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Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has landed an entry-level job as a financier. Upon arriving, he discovers that the company for which he is supposed to work has been taken over by a rival corporation. As a result, Brantley is laid off before he even starts working. After several unsuccessful attempts to get another job, mostly because he is either overqualified or underqualified and has little experience, Brantley ends up working in the mailroom of the Pemrose Corporation, which is directed by a distant relative though he identifies him as his uncle, Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan), the CEO. Pemrose was founded by Howard's father-in-law; Howard received presidency of the company by marrying his boss's daughter, Vera Pemrose (Margaret Whitton). Upon inspecting company reports, Brantley realizes that Howard and most of his fellow "suits" (executives) are making ineffective or detrimental decisions. After Brantley notices an empty office in the building due to one of Howard's frequent firings, he uses his access to the mailroom and his understanding of company processes to create the identity of Carlton Whitfield, a new executive. Brantley then assumes this role. While handling two jobs (switching between casual wear and business suits in the elevator), Brantley also falls head-over-heels for Christy Wills (Helen Slater), a fellow financial wizard who recently graduated from Harvard. Brantley meets Vera after driving her home in a company limo (at his employer's request), and she seduces him after persuading him to stay for a swim. Upon seeing Howard arriving, Brantley and Vera realize they are related (albeit not by blood). Vera only seduced Brantley to get back at her husband for having an affair with a woman in his office. Brantley then gets changed as fast as he can and leaves the mansion without being seen by Howard. Howard, unbeknownst to Brantley, is having an affair with Christy. When Howard asks her to spy on Carlton Whitfield, Christy falls head-over-heels for "Whitfield", not knowing he is actually Brantley. The Pemrose Corporation is preparing for an impending takeover by the Davenport Corporation. If Davenport Corporation absorbs Pemrose, everyone gets fired. Howard, unaware that Whitfield and Brantley are one and the same person, suspects "Whitfield" is a spy for corporate raider Donald Davenport (Fred Gwynne). Brantley's double identity is discovered when he, Christy, Vera and Howard end up in the same bedroom after a party at Howard’s home that all four are attending. Brantley and Christy end their budding relationship and Brantley gets sacked from his job he did as Whitfield, as does Christy for refusing to continue the affair with Howard. Vera and Howard are getting divorced, since she found out that Howard was having an affair with Christy and was planning on proposing to her. While both Christy and Brantley are moving out of their offices, they end up in the same elevator and make up, conceiving a revenge plan with Vera. In the end, they raise enough cash, bonds, and stocks to wrest ownership of the Pemrose Corporation from Howard, and to proceed with a hostile takeover bid of Davenport's Corporation. Vera, already contemptuous of Howard for his counter- productive business practices, which were driving her father's empire into the ground, tells the board about his affair as well. She promptly replaces him with Brantley, with Jean (Carlton’s secretary), Christy and Melrose (Brantley’s mailroom colleague) at his side. While security guards escort Howard and his aide, Art Thomas (Gerry Bamman), from the Pemrose Building, Brantley and Christy start planning their future together, personal as well as professional. All of them made it to the big time with a penthouse and a limo to take them to the opera. Brantley and Christy decided to visit his parents with a corporate jet. 

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Irish-American Terry Noonan returns to Hell's Kitchen in New York City after a long absence, where his unpredictable childhood friend Jackie Flannery is involved in an Irish crime organization run by older brother Frank. Terry rekindles an old relationship with Jackie's sister Kathleen. Terry is actually an undercover cop, and confesses it to Kathleen. She is reluctant to have anything to do with him after being told by her brother Frank that Terry is now a member of his gang after killing two people, although Terry explains to Kathleen the killing was staged by his police boss Nick, with blanks used. Jackie is drinking in a bar one night when three members of a rival Italian gang enter. Suspecting their involvement in the killing of his friend, Stevie, Jackie snaps and ends up killing all three for intruding on his gang's territory. Frank is summoned to a meeting with Italian Mafia boss Joe Borelli and is told he must kill his brother Jackie. Frank has told his men to lie in wait in case the meeting goes wrong, and manages to avert a shoot out by hugging the Italian leader outside the restaurant in full view of the gang, causing them to retreat. Frank arranges for Jackie to collect $25,000 after lying to him that the Italians are actually supporting them and that this is their reward, telling him to go to Battery Park. Terry tags along as Jackie's secret backup, finding that the location has been changed to Pier 84. As they wait at Pier 84, Frank arrives with his enforcer Pat Nicholson just as Terry has stepped away to frantically phone his police handlers to inform them that they have been sent to the wrong location. Frank shoots Jackie in cold blood. The police finally arrive and Terry tells Nick that he is quitting as an undercover operative. At Jackie's funeral, Terry reveals to Frank that he was at Pier 84, and also hands him his police badge. Hours later, while Kathleen is watching the St. Patrick's Day parade alone, Terry goes to the bar where Frank and his gang are. In a shootout, Frank and all of his men are killed. Having been shot three times, Terry slumps to the floor. 

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One Christmas Eve after watching a children's performance of the Nativity scene, three homeless people – a middle-aged alcoholic named Gin, a former drag queen named Hana, and a dependent teenage runaway girl named Miyuki – discover an abandoned newborn while searching through the garbage for presents. Deposited with the unnamed baby is a note asking the unknown finder to take good care of her and a bag containing clues to the parents' identity. The trio sets out to find the baby's parents. The baby is named by Hana, based on the Japanese translation of Silent Night literally meaning "pure child", as she is found on Christmas Eve. Outside a cemetery, the group encounters a high-ranking yakuza boss trapped under his car. The man happens to know the owner of the club where Kiyoko's mother used to work; his daughter is going to be marrying the club's owner that day. At the wedding reception, the groom tells them that the baby's mother is a former bar girl named Sachiko. He gives them Sachiko's address, but the party is interrupted when a maid, revealed to be a Latino hitman in disguise, attempts to shoot the bride's father. The hitman kidnaps Miyuki and baby Kiyoko while holding them hostage at gunpoint and takes them back to his home. There, Miyuki befriends the hitman's wife who happens to have a child of her own and they begin bonding-(despite their language barrier). While looking through old photo albums, Miyuki tearfully confesses to fleeing her home after stabbing her over-controlling father Ishida when her beloved cat Angel went missing-(believing that he had gotten rid of it). Hana searches for Miyuki and Kiyoko while Gin takes care of an elderly homeless man who is dying in the street. After giving Gin a little red bag, the old man peacefully passes away. Some teenagers show up and beat up Gin and the dead old man's corpse. Meanwhile, Hana finds the girls and they go off to find a place to stay. They go to Angel Tower, a club where Hana had worked at before being quitting her job for assaulting a rude and intoxicated customer years ago. Gin, who was rescued by another member of the club, is also there. While there, it's learned that Hana had become homeless when her lover Ken had died from injuring himself after slipping on a bar of soap in the bathroom. The trio set out to find Sachiko's house, but they discover that it has been torn down. They are informed of the unhappy relationship between Sachiko and her husband, who is a gambling alcoholic. The group rests at a store until they are told to leave by the clerk. Hana collapses, and is taken by Gin and Miyuki to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Gin finds his estranged daughter, who is also named Kiyoko, working as a nurse. Hana berates Gin in front of his daughter and storms out of the hospital, with Miyuki following behind with baby Kiyoko in hand. Hana and Miyuki find Sachiko about to jump off a bridge. Sachiko insists that her husband got rid of the baby without her knowledge, and that they return the baby to her. Gin finds Sachiko's husband, who confirms a TV report Gin saw earlier that Kiyoko was actually stolen by Sachiko from the hospital. They chase after Sachiko and Kiyoko. After an intense car chase, Miyuki chases Sachiko to the top of a building. Sachiko reveals she became pregnant in hopes it would bring her closer to her husband. When her baby was stillborn, she decided to kidnap Kiyoko from the hospital's nursery, thinking, in her grief, the baby was hers. As Sachiko is about to jump off the building intending to commit suicide with Kiyoko in her hands, her husband comes out of his apartment, located just across the street, and begs her to start over with him. Sachiko jumps off nevertheless, but Miyuki manages to catch her before she falls, but then Sachiko accidentally drops Kiyoko. Hana jumps off the building after Kiyoko, catches the baby, and lands safely due to a miraculous gust of wind. Hana, Miyuki, and Gin are taken to the hospital. Miyuki hands Gin his cigarettes and drops the old man's small red bag on the floor, revealing a winning lottery ticket. Kiyoko's real parents want to ask the trio to become her godparents. When a police inspector introduces them to the trio, the inspector is revealed to be Miyuki's father. 

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Nursery school teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve journey to a remote lake in the wooded English countryside. Hiking to the lakeside, they meet Adam, a young boy gathering insects. Relaxing beside the lake, the setting is disrupted by a group of delinquent teenagers, who have ridden their bicycles to a spot within a few metres of the young couple. After they sleep overnight in their tent, they find food supplies infested with insects and their car tyre damaged by a bottle left behind by the teens. Returning to town for breakfast, Steve spots a house with bikes that he thinks belongs to the teens. When no one answers the door, Steve walks into the house, narrowly escaping as the surly homeowner returns. Back at the lake, Steve goes scuba diving while Jenny sleeps on the shore. Steve returns to find the bag with their car keys, phone and wallet is missing, soon confirming that their car is gone. Returning to town on foot, they avoid collision with their car, driven recklessly through the woods by the gang's leader Brett. Finding the gang in the woods after nightfall, Steve demands the return of his belongings, only to be pounced by the knife-wielding teens. In the scuffle, Brett's rottweiler Bonnie is mortally knifed, provoking Brett into wanting revenge. The couple grab the keys and drive off, but the gang throws stones at them, causing Steve to crash the car. With Steve trapped, Jenny is forced to run for help. At daybreak, Jenny sees Steve tied to a rock with barbed wire. Brett orders each reluctant teen to torture him. When Paige, a female gang member, records Steve's torture on her phone, the gang realize they have no choice but to kill Steve. This allows Jenny to show herself and give chase while Steve buys time to free himself. Jenny evades the gang and finds Steve, but is unable to nurse his fatal wounds. She finds an engagement ring, leading Steve to propose even as he is in severe pain. Jenny runs off to find help and accidentally steps on a large spike. Her scream catches the gang's attention. Steve dies from his injuries. Jenny runs into Adam and thinks he will help her but he ends up texting the gang their location. They tie Jenny and Steve's body to a pile of wood. Brett forces Adam to light the bonfire while Paige films. Jenny is able to escape, and the gang burn Adam to death in retaliation. Jenny continues to evade the gang, killing gang member Cooper who was actually attempting to help her. After finding the body, Brett is thrown into further rage and beats another gang member to death, causing Paige to run away from him. Jenny reaches a road and is picked up by a driver who is looking for his brother Ricky, another gang member. When the driver exits the van to talk with the gang members, Jenny panics and steals the van, speeds off, and intentionally runs over Paige while making her way back to town. Jenny makes it to town, crashes into a fence at a large backyard party, and collapses. Awaking, she finds herself being comforted by an unknown woman, her husband and the party guests and realizes she is in Brett's house. Jenny is lead to the bathroom after saying that she feels sick, and Brett's father Jon notices the van on his lawn before one of the parents receives a call informing him of the dead gang members, who are the children of the adults at the house. A commotion begins in the house and the bathroom door is kicked open as Jenny is confronted by Brett, Jon, and the other party guests. Brett has convinced the adults that Jenny and Steve sadistically murdered Bonnie and the gang members. Jenny begs Jon to call the police and attacks him with a razor she found in the bathroom. Jon quickly subdues her. Jon tells Brett to go upstairs, slaps him when he tries to say something, and takes Jenny back into the bathroom with two other men. Brett shuts the door of his room, blocking out her screams. He deletes the videos of the gang's crimes from Paige's phone, puts on Steve's sunglasses, and stares blankly into a mirror. 

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Narrated by Alan-a-Dale, we are introduced to Robin Hood and Little John who live in Sherwood Forest, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor townsfolk of Nottingham. Meanwhile, Prince John, the de facto King of England, sends his lead henchman, the Sheriff of Nottingham, to catch the two but he fails every time. Meanwhile, Prince John and his assistant Sir Hiss, arrive in Nottingham. Sir Hiss hypnotized Prince John's brother King Richard to go off on the Crusades, allowing Prince John to take the throne. Unfortunately, the prince is greedy and immature, even sucking his thumb whenever his mother is mentioned. Robin and Little John rob Prince John by disguising themselves as fortune tellers, prompting the prince to put a bounty on their heads and makes the Sheriff his personal tax collector. The Sheriff taxes the inhabitants of Nottingham excessively. However, Robin gives back some money to a family of rabbits and gives a bow and arrow and his hat to the young rabbit Skippy for his birthday. Skippy and his friends test out the bow, but Skippy fires an arrow into the grounds of Maid Marian's castle. Skippy sneaks inside, meeting Maid Marian and her lady-in-waiting Lady Kluck. Maid Marian reveals she and Robin were childhood sweethearts but they have not seen one another for years. Friar Tuck visits Robin and Little John, explaining that Prince John is hosting an archery tournament and the winner will receive a kiss from Maid Marian. Robin agrees to participate in the tournament in disguise whilst Little John arrives as the Duke of Chutney to get near Prince John. Sir Hiss discovers Robin's identity, but is trapped in a barrel of ale by Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale. Robin wins the tournament, but Prince John exposes him and sentences him to death despite Maid Marian's pleas. Little John threatens Prince John with a dagger which leads to a fight between Robin, Little John, Maid Marian, Lady Kluck, and Prince John's soldiers and culminates in Robin and his allies escaping. In the forest, Robin and Maid Marian share a romantic evening, then are surprised by his “merry men” who throw a party and sing a song mocking Prince John, describing him as the "Phony King of England". Enraged by the song, Prince John triples the taxes, imprisoning most of the townsfolk who cannot pay their taxes. The Sheriff visits Friar Tuck's church to steal from the poor box, which angers Friar Tuck and he attacks the Sheriff and is arrested. Prince John plans to hang Friar Tuck to lure in Robin and kill him. Robin and Little John sneak into the castle, with Little John managing to free all of the prisoners whilst Robin steals Prince John's gold, but Sir Hiss awakens to find Robin fleeing. Chaos ensues as Robin and the others try to escape to Sherwood Forest. However, the Sheriff corners Robin after he returns to rescue Skippy's younger sister. The two fight, accidentally setting fire to Prince John's castle and causing Robin to leap from a tower into the moat below. Little John and Skippy watch as the moat is pelted with arrows and Robin is presumably shot and drowned, only to emerge unharmed. Prince John despairs and is driven into a blind rage when Sir Hiss points out his mother's castle is on fire. Later, King Richard returns to England, places his brother, Sir Hiss, and the Sheriff under arrest and pardons Robin, allowing him and Maid Marian to marry and leave Nottingham with Little John and Skippy in tow. 

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In London, England, circa 1900, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their boys, John and Michael, acting out a story about Peter Pan and the pirates that was told to them by their older sister, Wendy. George, who is fed up with the stories, declares that Wendy has gotten too old to continue staying in the nursery with the boys. That night, Wendy and the boys are visited in the nursery by Peter Pan himself, who teaches them to fly with the help of his pixie friend, Tinker Bell, and takes them with him to the island of Never Land. A ship of pirates is anchored off Never Land, captained by Captain Hook with his first mate, Mr. Smee. Hook plots to take revenge upon Peter Pan for cutting off his hand, and fears the crocodile who had consumed the hand and is eager to eat the rest of him. The crew's restlessness is interrupted by the arrival of Peter and the Darlings. Tinker Bell, who is very jealous of Pan's attention to Wendy, persuades the Lost Boys that Pan has ordered them to shoot down Wendy. Tinker Bell's treachery is soon found out, and Peter banishes her. John and Michael set off with the Lost Boys to find the island's Indians, who instead capture them, believing they to be those responsible for taking the chief's daughter, Tiger Lily. Meanwhile, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids, who flee in terror at the sight of Hook. Peter and Wendy see that Hook and Smee have captured Tiger Lily so that they might persuade her to disclose Peter's hideout. Peter and Wendy free her and return her to the Chief, and Peter is honored by the tribe. Hook then plots to take advantage of Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy, tricking her into revealing the location of Peter's lair. Wendy and her brothers eventually grow homesick and plan to return home. They invite Peter and the Lost Boys to return to London and be adopted by the Darling parents. The Lost Boys agree, but Peter doesn’t want to grow up and refuses. The pirates lie in wait and capture the Lost Boys and the Darlings as they exit the lair, leaving behind a time bomb to kill Peter. Tinker Bell learns of the plot just in time to snatch the bomb from Peter as it explodes. Peter rescues Tinker Bell from the rubble and together they confront the pirates, releasing the children before they can walk the plank. Peter engages Hook in combat as the children fight off the crew. Hook and his crew flee. Peter commandeers the deserted ship and, assisted by Tinker Bell's pixie dust, flies it to London with the children aboard. However, the Lost Boys decide to return to Never Land with Peter rather than be adopted in London. George and Mary Darling return home from the party to find Wendy sleeping at the open window of the nursery. Wendy awakens and excitedly tells about their adventures. The parents look out the window and see what appears to be a pirate ship in the clouds. George, who has softened his position about Wendy staying in the nursery, recognizes the ship from his own childhood. 

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Rover is a Basset Hound that lives a life of luxury in Las Vegas with his owner Connie, a showgirl. He gambles and flirts with girls with his best friend Eddie. One night, he sees Connie's boyfriend, Rocky, in a transaction with a pair of gangsters, and accidentally disrupts it. Thinking that Rocky is an undercover cop setting them up, the gangsters flee, telling Rocky that he has blown his last chance. The next day, Connie goes on tour for two weeks, leaving Rocky to look after Rover. In retaliation for ruining his deal, Rocky stuffs Rover in a bag, drives him to Hoover Dam and throws him into the water. The bag is later pulled out of the water by two passing fishermen, who take Rover back to shore and place him in the back of their pickup truck. Rover regains consciousness and jumps out of the truck when the fishermen stop for gas, and begins to wander down the road. He ends up in the countryside, and eventually runs into a farmer, Cal, and his son, Danny, who convinces his father to take the dog in. Cal agrees on one condition: at the first sign of trouble, he'll be sent to an animal shelter, and if nobody claims him, the animal shelter can put him down. Rover has difficulty adjusting to life on the farm, but with the help of Daisy, a beautiful collie next door, and the other dogs on the farm, he succeeds in earning their trust. Rover spends Christmas with the family, and begins to fall in love with Daisy, who returns his affections. However, one night, a pack of wolves attempt to kill a turkey on the farm. As Rover attempts to save the turkey, the wolves run off, but the bird ends up dead and Cal mistakenly believes Rover to have been responsible. The next morning, Cal takes Rover into the woods and is about to shoot him, but is attacked by the wolves. Rover manages to chase off the wolves, and rallies the other farm dogs to get the injured Cal home. Rover's heroics make the papers, allowing Eddie and Connie to find out where he is. Danny informs Rover of his trip back to Las Vegas and he departs the farm. Although initially happy to be reunited with Connie and his friends, Rover soon begins to miss his life on the farm. When Rocky comes into Connie's dressing room, and upon seeing him, Rover initiates revenge. After Rocky accidentally confesses to what he did, Connie angrily breaks up with him. Infuriated, Rocky tries to retaliate against Connie, but Rover and his dog friends chase him out of the casino, where he runs into a limo filled with the gangsters. At first, Rocky is happy to see them, but then questions their presence in the first place. One of the gangsters proudly reveals that they set him up and are going to throw him over the Hoover Dam, much to Rover's delight as he watches the limo drive off with a horrified Rocky. Sometime later, Rover, missing Daisy, becomes depressed. Connie, realizing he has met someone, takes Rover back to the farm to stay. Rover is reunited with Daisy, who reveals to him that he is now a father, unveiling six puppies. The story ends with Rover teaching his kids how to play cards, and playfully chasing Daisy around the farmyard. 

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A young boy is awakened on Christmas Eve night by the sound of a train. To his astonishment, he finds the train is waiting for him. He sees a conductor who then proceeds to look up at his window. He runs downstairs and goes outside. The conductor explains the train is called the Polar Express, and is journeying to the North Pole. The boy then boards the train, which is filled with many other children in their pajamas. The Polar Express races north over mountains and through boreal forests inhabited by timber wolves as well as rabbits, but the train never slows down. When it arrives at the North Pole, the conductor explains that Santa will select one of them to receive the first gift of Christmas. The boy and the other children see thousands of Christmas elves gathered at the center of town waiting to send Santa Claus on his way. The boy is handpicked by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas. Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for a bell from one of the reindeer's harnesses. The boy places the bell in the pocket of his robe and all the children watch as Santa takes off into the night for his annual deliveries. Later, on the train ride home, the boy discovers that the bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket. The boy arrives home and goes to his bedroom as the train pulls away. On Christmas morning, his sister finds a small package for the boy under the tree, behind all of the other gifts. The boy opens the box and discovers that it contains the bell, delivered by Santa along with a note explaining that he found it on the seat of his sleigh. When the boy rings the bell, both he and his sister marvel at the beautiful sound. His parents, however, are unable to hear the bell (since they don't believe in Santa) and remark that it must be broken. The book ends with the following line: 

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Thirty years into the future, Bart is a 40-year-old beer-drinking slacker trying to launch his music career after dropping out of the DeVry Institute. He lives with his bandmate Ralph Wiggum in a beach cottage by the shore, where they are struggling to make ends meet and have resorted to mooching off Bart's parents and their neighbor Ned Flanders. The only gig Bart and Ralph can get is at a beach bar owned by Nelson Muntz, and even then, they are only paid in popcorn shrimp. The morning after their disastrous concert at Nelson's bar, Bart and Ralph find out that they have been evicted from their house. Meanwhile, 38-year-old Lisa becomes the first straight female President of the United States, and moves into the White House, to where Bart quickly moves in and invites their parents to live in, and his antics prove a burden on Lisa's political activities, much to Lisa's discomfort. Homer uses the time to search for gold buried by Abraham Lincoln on the grounds of the White House. When he finally locates the "gold", it is in fact a chest with a scroll in it that Lincoln had written on explaining that his "gold" is "in the heart of every freedom-loving American." Homer does not appreciate the metaphor and angrily curses Lincoln; when present-day Bart asks the manager about this subplot, he claims that he needed filler after the main vision became "too thin". Bart disrupts one of Lisa's addresses to the nation to promote his music career, which leads Lisa to be branded unpopular when Bart sings to the public on live television that Lisa will be imposing a tax rise to get the country out of debt; the leaders of America's creditor nations then demand that America pay them back. Frustrated with his antics, Lisa distracts Bart by making him president of "keeping it real". His conscience manifests in the form of Billy Carter's ghost, who reminds him that he is an embarrassment because of his actions and suggests he atone for his mistakes. Bart steps in at Lisa's meeting with the leaders and uses his skills at stalling debt collectors to save the day, promising the money will soon be repaid in full, pleasing Lisa. As a thank-you, Bart asks Lisa to "legalize it", and Lisa says she will. 

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Set in England in the lead-up to and during World War II, it portrays Lewis Eliot's friendship with the gifted scholar and remarkable individual Roy Calvert, and Calvert's inner turmoil and quest for meaning in life. 

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In 1881, Edgar Rice Burroughs attends the funeral of his uncle, John Carter, a former American Civil War Confederate Army captain who died suddenly. Per Carter's instructions, the body is put in a tomb that can be unlocked only from the inside. His attorney gives Carter's personal journal for Burroughs to read, in the hope of finding clues explaining Carter's cause of death. In a flashback to 1868 in the Arizona Territory, Union Colonel Powell arrests Carter. Powell, knowing about Carter's military background, seeks his help in fighting the Apache. Carter escapes his holding cell, but fails to get far with U.S. cavalry soldiers in close pursuit. After a run-in with a band of Apaches, Carter and a wounded Powell are chased until they take to hiding in a cave that turns out to be the object of Carter's earlier searching, the 'Spider Cave of Gold'. A Thern appears in the cave at that moment and, surprised by the two men, attacks them with a knife; Carter kills him but accidentally activates the Thern's powerful medallion, and is unwittingly transported to a ruined and dying planet, Barsoom. Because of his different bone density and the planet's low gravity, Carter is able to jump high and perform feats of incredible strength. He is captured by the Green Martian Tharks and their Jeddak Tars Tarkas. Elsewhere on Barsoom, the Red Martian cities of Helium and Zodanga have been at war for a thousand years. Sab Than, Jeddak of Zodanga, armed with a special weapon obtained from the Thern leader Matai Shang, proposes a cease-fire and an end to the war by marrying the Princess of Helium, Dejah Thoris. The Princess escapes and is rescued by Carter. Carter, Dejah, and Tarkas' daughter Sola, embark on a quest to get to the end of a sacred river to find a way for Carter to get back home. They obtain information about the "ninth ray", a means of using infinite energy and also the key to understanding how the medallion works, but are attacked by Shang's minions, the Green Martians of Warhoon. After the attack, Carter is captured and taken back with Dejah while Sola is able to escape. The demoralized Dejah grudgingly agrees to marry Sab Than, then gives Carter his medallion and tells him to return to Earth. Carter decides to stay and is captured by Shang, who explains to him the purpose of Therns and how they manipulate the civilizations of different worlds to their doom, feeding off the planet's resources in the process. Carter is able to make an escape as he and Sola go back to the Tharks requesting their help. There they discover Tarkas has been overthrown by a ruthless brute, Tal Hajus. Tarkas, Carter and Sola are put on trial in a colosseum battle with two enormous vicious creatures, the four-armed Great White-Apes. After defeating them and killing Hajus, Carter becomes the leader of the Tharks. The Thark army charges on Helium and defeats the Zodangan army by killing Sab Than, while Shang is forced to escape and leave Mars for good. Carter becomes prince of Helium by marrying Dejah. On their first night, Carter decides to stay forever on Mars and throws away his medallion. Seizing this opportunity, Shang briefly reappears and sends him back to Earth. Carter then embarks on a long quest, looking for clues of the Therns' presence on Earth and hoping to find one of their medallions; after several years he appears to die suddenly and asks for unusual funeral arrangements — consistent with his having found a medallion, since his return to Mars would leave his Earth body in a coma-like state. He makes Burroughs his protector, giving him clues about how to open the tomb. Back in the present, Burroughs runs back to Carter's tomb and opens it, finding it empty. Shang, disguised as a man with a bowler hat who has been observing Carter, suddenly appears, having followed Burroughs. As Shang prepares to attack, Carter appears and kills Shang. Carter then tells Burroughs that he never found a medallion. Instead, he devised a scheme to lure a Thern into revealing himself. Carter takes Shang's medallion, whispers the code, and is then transported back to Barsoom. 

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Mortal Kombat is a fighting tournament between the representatives of the realms of Earth and Outworld conceived by the Elder Gods amid looming invasion of the Earth by Outworld. If the realm of Outworld wins Mortal Kombat ten consecutive times, its Emperor Shao Kahn will be able to invade and conquer the Earthrealm. Wat Phra Si Sanphet was used in the film's opening for a fight between Shang Tsung and Liu Kang's brother Shaolin monk Liu Kang and his comrades, movie star Johnny Cage, and military officer Sonya Blade are chosen by Raiden, the god of thunder and defender of the Earth realm, to overcome their powerful adversaries in order to prevent Outworld from winning their tenth straight Mortal Kombat tournament. Each of the three has his or her own reason for competing: Liu seeks revenge against the tournament host Shang Tsung for killing his brother Chan; Sonya seeks revenge on an Australian crime lord Kano for murdering a fellow officer; and Cage seeks to prove that his martial-arts skills are real. Phra Nang beach was used for the fight between Liu Kang and Kitana At Shang Tsung's island, Liu is attracted to Princess Kitana, Shao Kahn's adopted daughter. Aware that Kitana is a dangerous adversary because she is the rightful heir to Outworld and that she will attempt to ally herself with the Earth warriors, Tsung orders the creature Reptile to spy on her. Liu defeats his first opponent and Sonya gets her revenge on Kano by snapping his neck. Cage encounters and barely beats Scorpion. Liu engages in a brief duel with Kitana, who secretly offers him cryptic advice for his next battle. Liu's next opponent is Sub-Zero, whose defense seems untouched because of his freezing abilities until Liu recalls Kitana's advice and uses it to kill Sub-Zero. Prince Goro enters the tournament and mercilessly crushes every opponent he faces. One of Cage's peers, Art "Kai" Lean, is defeated by Goro as well and has his soul taken by Shang Tsung. Sonya worries that they may not win against Goro, but Raiden disagrees. He reveals their own fears and egos are preventing them from winning the tournament. Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya, was used as the place of confrontation between Liu Kang and Rayden Despite Sonya's warning, Cage comes to Tsung to request a fight with Goro. The sorcerer accepts on the condition that he be allowed to challenge any opponent of his choosing, anytime and anywhere he chooses. Raiden tries to intervene, but the conditions are agreed upon before he can do so. After Shang Tsung leaves, Raiden confronts Cage for what he has done in challenging Goro but is impressed when Cage shows his awareness of the gravity of the tournament. Cage faces Goro and uses guile and the element of surprise to defeat the defending champion. Now desperate, Tsung takes Sonya hostage and takes her to Outworld, intending to fight her as his opponent. Knowing that his powers are ineffective there and that Sonya cannot defeat Tsung by herself, Raiden sends Liu and Cage into Outworld in order to rescue Sonya and challenge Tsung. In Outworld, Liu is attacked by Reptile (under orders from Shang Tsung to prevent him and Cage from rescuing Sonya), but eventually gains the upper hand and defeats him. Afterward, Kitana meets up with Cage and Liu. She reveals to the pair the origins of both herself and Outworld. Kitana allies with them and helps them to infiltrate Tsung's castle while advising Liu Kang about three challenges in the castle: To face his enemy, himself and his worst fear. Inside the castle tower, Shang Tsung challenges Sonya to fight him, claiming that her refusal to accept will result in the Earth realm forfeiting Mortal Kombat (this is, in fact, a lie on Shang's part). All seems lost for Earth realm until Kitana, Liu, and Cage appear. Kitana berates Tsung for his treachery to the Emperor as Sonya is set free, claiming that his arrogance and greed will cost him the tournament if he doesn't honor his deal. Tsung challenges Cage but is counter-challenged by Liu. During the lengthy battle, Liu faces not only Tsung but the souls that Tsung had forcibly taken in past tournaments. In a last-ditch attempt to take advantage, Tsung morphs into Chan. Seeing through the charade, Liu renews his determination and ultimately fires an energy bolt at the sorcerer, knocking him down and impaling him on a bed of spikes. Tsung's death releases all of the captive souls, including Chan's. Before ascending to the afterlife, Chan tells Liu that he will remain with him in spirit until they are once again reunited. The Warriors return to Earthrealm, where a victory celebration is taking place at the Shaolin temple. The jubilation abruptly stops, however, when Shao Kahn's giant figure suddenly appears in the skies. When the Emperor declares that he has come for everyone's souls, Raiden declares "I don't think so," and the warriors take up their fighting stances. 

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The Simpson family visit a Renaissance fair, where Lisa finds a fortune-telling booth. She says she will predict Lisa's future and tell the story of her true love. In the year 2010 -- 15 years in the future -- then 23-year-old Lisa meets a fellow university student named Hugh Parkfield from London. The pair fall madly in love and soon plan to marry. Lisa and Hugh travel to Springfield, where they plan to hold the wedding. Despite Lisa's hopes, Hugh does not get along with her family; he is particularly dismayed when Homer wants him to wear family-tradition cufflinks resembling pigs on his wedding day. Lisa begs Hugh to wear the cufflinks and he agrees on the condition that Lisa abandon her family after the wedding because Hugh is deeply embarrassed by them. Outraged, Lisa insists she cannot marry him if he cannot understand that she loves her family members -- despite their shortcomings -- and calls off the wedding. In the present, the fortune teller reveals that Hugh returned to England and never saw Lisa again. Lisa questions the fortune teller about her "true love" and the fortune teller reveals that although Lisa will have a true love, she "specializes in foretelling relationships where you get jerked around". Lisa leaves the booth and finds her father, who is excited to tell her about his day at the fair. 

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The film is shown from the perspective of Gonzalo Infante, an 11 year upper middle-class Chilean boy, during a time period in which the lower classes demand more rights and fundamental change and have won the recent democratic election. Many from the middle and upper class, including members of Gonzalo's own family, grow fearful of the socialist movement and plot against the country's elected president, Salvador Allende. Gonzalo's father, while sympathetic to the poor and not part of the right-wing movement, wants to leave the country for Italy, where he frequently travels for work at the UN FAO. Gonzalo's mother, Maria Luisa Infante, is having an affair with a wealthy older Argentinian, Roberto Ochagavia, who gives Gonzalo gifts to keep him quiet. Gonzalo is sometimes bullied by his sister's boyfriend, who is a violent anti-Allende right-winger who uses nunchakus to intimidate people. The family often buys products from the black market, due to rationing and shortages. Gonzalo attends a private school where the strong- willed school principal, Father McEnroe, is developing a social integration project, which is seen by some parents as left leaning rather than a work of the Christian faith. When five poor students are admitted to Gonzalo's class, Gonzalo becomes friends with Pedro Machuca, one of the new students, after he refuses to participate in bullying by other pupils. Gonzalo accompanies Pedro and his neighbor Silvana as they sell flags and cigarettes at demonstrations: first nationalistic flags at a demonstration of right-wing nationalists, then flags of the red brigades at a leftist rally in support of the government. Silvana calls Gonzalo a snob and strawberry-face, but eventually befriends him and they even exchange first kisses. Pedro Machuca visits Gonzalo's home and is impressed at Gonzalo having a separate room with toys and a closet full of clothing, but also witnesses the tensions and cruelty latent in Gonzalo's family. When Gonzalo visits the shantytown dwelling of Pedro, he is appalled at the conditions. The friendship of the two mirrors the friendship between the Lone Ranger and the Indian Tonto in Gonzalo's favorite comic-book series. Gonzalo knows that he is acting against expectations, mentioning that his favorite comic is unbelievable because "Indians and white men do not team up." As political unrest in Chile grows, the boys' friendship begins to be tested. Pedro's drunk father taunts him, telling him that, while Gonzalo and his friends will grow up wealthy, he will be stuck in the lower class cleaning toilets. The wealthy parents of the students at St. Patrick's school are divided on the issue of the new poor students. While some, such as Sr. Infante, support Father McEnroe's policies, many, including Sra. Infante, think that the classes should be segregated. The school farm run by the students is a failure and jeopardizes the financial basis for the inclusion of poorer students. At an anti-Communist political rally, Gonzalo's mother sticks up for Silvana when Silvana is threatened by the group that Gonzalo's mother is with—until Silvana spits on their car in retaliation and calls Gonzalo’s mother a whore. As the class tensions increase, the friends get into a fight and are driven apart. Gonzalo's family witnesses the military coup of 1973 led by Augusto Pinochet, in which Salvador Allende commits suicide and Augusto Pinochet takes over. After Father McEnroe is removed from the now militarized school, he attends the mass performed by a new priest, consumes the sacramental bread to save it from desecration and declares the ground to be desecrated. Machuca leads the other students in honoring the priest and is expelled. Gonzalo tries to visit the shantytown where Pedro and Silvana live but arrives to find it being destroyed by the soldiers. He then witnesses a soldier murdering Silvana. Himself being dragged into the conflict, Gonzalo convinces a soldier that he is not from the shantytown due to his nice clothing and fair complexion, and is forced to abandon his friend. He returns to his family's new home, which is now even more opulent thanks to his mother's lover and the new redistribution of wealth under the new government. He remains distraught over the events he has witnessed as he remembers his friends as he stares down at the ruins of their homes. The 17 years of Chilean dictatorship, in which 250,000 Chileans were detained, have begun. 

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The main character Roy Eberhardt moves from Montana to Florida and into the fictional town of Coconut Cove, where a 7th grader, Dana Matherson, starts to bully him. On the bus to school, Roy sees a boy running barefoot outside. Roy tries to leave the bus, but Dana viciously chokes and strangles him. He escapes after punching Dana in the face, breaking his nose, and then exiting the bus. But Roy can't catch the running boy because a golf ball hits Roy in the head. Vice-Principal Viola Hennepin suspends him from the bus for two weeks and orders Roy to write an apology to Dana. Roy calls for a truce, but Dana refuses to accept. A restaurant called Mother Paula's All- American Pancake House decides to build a franchise in Coconut Cove, but vandalism delays the work. Roy learns the running boy is the vandal known as "Mullet Fingers" and they become friends. Mullet Fingers vandalizes and delays construction overseen by Chuck Muckle to save the endangered burrowing owls that live on the site. The construction foreman Leroy "Curly" Branitt denies the owls' existence. Roy helps Mullet Fingers prove otherwise and tells his class including Beatrice Leep about the owls, how construction will kill the endangered species, and encourages them to join him in protests. Roy and his classmates attend the groundbreaking and expose the truth. This includes the company's illegal removal of an environmental impact statement from their files. This revelation saves the owls and their habitat. Mother Paula's All- American Pancake House blames former employees and promises to preserve the property as an owl sanctuary. Muckle is sent to anger management for attacking a reporter. Dana is later arrested and sentenced to a detention camp. Mullet Fingers's mother sees him protesting with Roy and his classmates and goes in front of all the cameras and attempts to hog all the attention. Two days later, Mullet Fingers climbs out his home's bathroom window and is mistaken for a burglar. Mullet Fingers's mother lies to the police and says he stole a very valuable toe ring. They believe her and he's sent to a juvenile detention center where he escapes. In the last chapter, Roy discovers that Mullet Fingers's real name is Napoleon Bridger Leep. 

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Set in the small town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, just after World War II, Antonio Márez y Luna (Tony) tells his story from the memories of his adult self, who reflects on his growing up. The novel opens as the protagonist, Antonio, approaches the age of seven when his family decides to house Ultima, an elderly curandera. Ultima, known as “La Grande” in the Márez household, embodies the wisdom of her ancestors and carries the powers to heal, to confront evil, knowledge of how to use the power of nature and the ability to understand the relationship between the living and the spirits. Tony's parents both hold conflicting views about Tony's destiny and battle over his future path. In the first chapter Anaya establishes the roots of this struggle through Tony's dream—a flashback to the day of his birth. In his dream, Tony views the differences between his parents' familial backgrounds. His father's side, the Márez (descendants of the sea), are the restless vaqueros who roam the llanos and seek adventure. The Lunas, his mother's side, are the people of the moon, religious farmers whose destiny is to homestead and work the land. Each side of the family wants control of the newborn's future. His mother's dream is for him to become a Roman Catholic priest, his father's dream is to embark on a new adventure and move west to California with his sons to recapture the openness of the Llano he has foregone in moving to the town. As the two families argue over Antonio's destiny, Ultima, serving as the midwife, declares, “Only I will know his destiny.” Following an immediate bond with Ultima, Antonio learns of the many herbs and barks, which she uses in her ceremonies. Tony's progress in learning about life is grounded in Ultima, who is highly respected by his parents. However, one night Antonio witnesses the death of a man back from the war, which makes him question his religion and identity, and sparks his journey towards manhood. Antonio begins school in the fall, where he is portrayed as an excelling student, which greatly pleases his mother. Tony's First Communion experience leaves him disillusioned as he did not receive the spiritual knowledge he had expected. He begins to question the value of the Catholic Church, concentrated on the Virgin Mary and a Father God, and on ritual, as unable to answer his moral and metaphysical dilemmas. At the same time, realizing that the Church represents the female values of his mother, Tony cannot bring himself to accept the lawlessness, violence and unthinking sensuality which his father and older brothers symbolize. Instead through his relationship with Ultima, he discovers a oneness with nature.Kanoza, T. M. (1999, Summer). "The golden carp and Moby Dick: Rudolfo Anaya’s multi- culturalism". Melus, 24, 1–10. Through his discovery that "All is One" he is able to resolve the major existential conflict in his life. One day, while socializing with his friends they tell him the story of the Golden Carp. Antonio also continues to be an example for the children, who praise his religious savant as they dress him as a priest while preparing for first communion. Antonio's admiration for Ultima strengthens as he continues to question his faith, hoping to understand once he takes communion for the first time. When Antonio's Uncle Lucas falls ill, presumably due to a curse by Tenorio's three evil daughters, Antonio must come to grips with the opposition between good and evil. Ultima, in her role as protector, uses her knowledge of healing and magic to neutralize the evil witchcraft and, despite lacking priestly recognition, emerges as the only one who can save him from death. In another traumatic death, Antonio witnesses the murder of Narciso, known as the town drunk, by Tenorio, a malicious saloon-keeper and barber in El Puerto. As a result, Antonio becomes ill and enters a dream-like state. Tenorio blames Ultima for the death of one of his daughters, claiming that his daughter passed because Ultima cursed her. Tenorio plots his revenge on Ultima throughout the duration of the novel. The determined Tenorio emerges in the final scenes as he chases Antonio back to the Màrez house, where Tenorio shoots Ultima's owl. Following the death of the owl, Ultima quickly follows and is accompanied by Antonio at her bedside as she dies. Before her death, she instructs Antonio to collect her medicines and herbs before destroying them by the river. At the conclusion of the novel, Antonio reflects on the tension that he feels as he is pulled between his father's free, open landscape of the llano, and his mother's circumscribed river valley of the town. In addition, he reflects on the pull between Catholicism and the continuation of Ultima's spiritual legacy and concludes that he does not need to choose one over the other, but can bring both together to form a new identity and a new religion that is made up of both. Antonio says to his father: 

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Nick Rivers, an American rock star ("Skeet Surfin'"), travels to East Germany (which is represented as like Hitler's regime) to perform at a cultural festival, which secretly serves the East German government as a diversion for a military operation with the intent of reuniting Germany under their rule. At a dinner, Nick encounters Hillary Flammond, a member of the local resistance movement who is attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti Frutti"), mistakenly thinking he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the diners but to the annoyance of General Streck, the mastermind of the "reunification" plot. Nick later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she expects to rendezvous with the resistance leader but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret prison lab of Dr. Paul Flammond, a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet as part of the government's plot. The Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution. The East Germans decide that Nick must perform to avoid an international incident, and he does so to the rapturous joy of the local girls ("How Silly Can You Get"/"Spend This Night with Me"). He is rescued by Hillary at the end of his performance, after which they spend the night in the loft of a Swedish bookstore. Nick plays for her ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?") and they make love. The next morning, they are moved to the "Potato Farm" where they meet members of the French Resistance, led by Nigel "The Torch", who was Hillary's lover from when they were stranded on an island as youths. Nick is upset by Hillary's love for Nigel, but accepts that they must work together for the cause. After fighting off an attack by the Germans (who were tipped off by a mystery traitor) they move to a pizza restaurant, where Nick proves his identity by performing for the locals ("Straighten Out the Rug"). The resistance group stages a rescue of Dr. Flammond, where Nigel and Du Quois, a resistance leader, dress up in a fake cow outfit to disable the prison's defenses. While the other members successfully infiltrate the prison, Nigel reveals himself as the traitor. Dr. Flammond is rescued, but Nigel makes off with Hillary, and Nick is forced to rescue her in an underwater bar fight. With their flight about to leave, Hillary chooses to go with Nick and her father to America. 

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Krill, an incredibly powerful evil warlock, is spreading chaos and destruction. None of the more experienced members of the Circle of Enchanters dare to attempt to stop him. In desperation, the player, a novice Enchanter with only a few weak spells in his spell book, is sent in hopes that Krill will either fail to detect him or dismiss him as harmless. More powerful spells can be found on scrolls hidden in various locations, but as the player becomes more of a threat, Krill will respond accordingly. This game features an innovative new spell system based partially on Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series and partially Dungeons and Dragons' Vancian spell system, where spells must be prepared through "memorization" before being cast. As in the Earthsea series, each spell is represented by some nonsense "magic word" which is treated as a verb by the game's text parser, so that one can use the FROTZ spell (which causes objects to glow and give off light) by typing >FROTZ BOOK, in exactly the same way as one might type >PICK UP BOOK or >READ BOOK. There are references scattered throughout Enchanter's documentation and gameplay comparing the use of spells by mages to the use of command line interfaces by programmers, and comparing mages to hackers in general. Many of the spell names, such as FROTZ and GNUSTO, are taken from MIT hacker slang of the time; others are various pop cultural references or anagrams. (For instance, the NITFOL spell allows one to speak with animals, and NITFOL is a truncated reversal of "LOFTING", after the author of the Doctor Dolittle stories.) 

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Air takes place in a town modeled on Kami, Japan. 

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This film adaptation's storyline begins around 1920 and concludes in 1933.The actual year this story begins is indefinite. However, the style of car depicted in the film's opening scene, dialogue references to times between major events in the plot, and the appearance of a calendar near the end of the film support the cited timeframe. In its opening scene a limousine is traveling down a road outside London. In the car are two passengers, Amelia Sedley (Barbara Kent) and her friend Becky Sharp (Myrna Loy), young ladies who agewise are in their twenties. Amelia is from a rich, well-connected family, while Becky is from very modest means and has no family at all. Given Becky's circumstances, Amelia has invited her to her home for the Christmas holidays. At the Sedley estate Amelia's family welcomes their guest, but the mother is soon wary of her. Those suspicions are warranted, for Becky aims to use her beauty and guile to gain wealth and privilege by climbing England's social ladder. Her first target for achieving those goals is Joseph, Amelia's much-older brother (Billy Bevan). After Becky tries unsuccessfully to trap him into marriage, Mrs. Sedley sees her cuddling in the home's drawing room with her daughter's fiancé, George Osborne. Disgusted, the mother calls "Miss Sharp" into the adjoining room, where she advises Becky to leave immediately so she can begin the job she had accepted before the holidays, that of governess for the family of Sir Pitt Crawley. Becky heeds the thinly veiled advice and departs.Fulghum, R. Neil (2016). The plot summary, including the story's given timeframe, and all dialogue quotations are based on notes from multiple viewings of Vanity Fair by R. Neil Fulghum, retired associate librarian, Academic Affairs Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; October 21–22, 2016.The full 1932 film Vanity Fair is currently available for viewing on YouTube. Upon her arrival at the residence of Lord Crawley, Becky quickly stirs the passions of both the elderly Sir Pitt and his son Rawdon (Conway Tearle). The new governess entices them with her suggestive comments and by allowing each man into her bedroom at night while she glides about in her satin pajamas. Soon she and Rawdon begin a secretive affair, but Sir Pitt finally catches them together in Becky's bedroom. There they inform him they had married the previous day. That news enrages the old man, who orders his son and his "shameless little hussy" out of his house. Relocating to a townhouse in London's Mayfair district, Becky and Rawdon feel the financial strains of being cut off from Lord Crawley and his wealth. The couple at first brings in money by betting and cheating their friends playing bridge. That income, however, is insufficient for their mounting bills, so Becky schemes to find other ways to get money. She does so through blackmail and by obtaining gifts from a string of lovers, including George Osborne, now the husband of her friend Amelia. Eventually, even Rawdon cannot tolerate his wife's wanton, criminal behavior. On the evening he is released from police custody for writing bad checks, Rawdon finds Becky at their home with another lover. He declares their marriage is over and gives her only ten minutes to vacate the premises. As she leaves, he informs Becky that his father had just died, and he is now the new Lord Crawley. He then warns her that if she ever dares to refer to herself as "Lady Crawley," he will track her down and kill her. Several years pass and Becky lives in a far less affluent, largely French-speaking area of London.At this point in the film, many of the peripheral characters are portrayed speaking French, which suggests that Becky is living in Soho, a district of London long recognized as home to the city's "French Quarter."Watts, Peter (2014). "London's Huguenots," Great Wren, July 9, 2014. There she prowls the area's bars and casinos, getting money from the assorted men she meets. One evening in a casino, she sees Amelia's brother Joseph, who updates her about his sister's situation. While Becky already knows that Amelia's husband George had died five years earlier in a horse-riding accident, she learns from Joseph that Amelia still refuses to remarry. Subsequently she also learns that her friend's devotion to George's memory and her mistaken belief in his fidelity have led Amelia to refuse repeated marriage proposals from Dobbin, a gentleman who has adored her for years. Sometime later, Becky invites Amelia to her apartment and confesses her affair with George. She then calls Amelia a fool for revering a dead "cad" and urges her to wed Dobbin, who is waiting outside in a car. When Amelia rejoins him after Becky's disclosures, she rests her head on Dobbin's shoulder, implying that his next proposal will be accepted. The film sequence that follows shows the passage of more years and the ongoing disintegration of Becky's life, which has become a daily struggle marked by petty crimes, prostitution, and meager funds. In the final scene Becky enters her shabby one-room apartment. Lying on the bed is Joseph, stirring from his latest binge. She addresses him as "my love" and informs him that his sister had just given her another check. He is infuriated and tells her never to accept money again from Amelia. Becky turns, sits at a dresser, and stares into its mirror. In the reflection she watches her face transform from the reality of its present haggard appearance to its former beauty. She then notices that Joseph has quietly departed. She also notices on a small bedside bureau that he has torn up his sister's check, and in the dust that coats the bureau's surface he has written Finis ("The End").The etymology of finis is traced to a Latin term literally meaning "the end." From the 15th century through the 19th century Finis was often placed on the final page of a book. Later, in the age of motion pictures in both Europe and the Americas, the word was frequently displayed at the conclusion of films. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language (1978). International Edition, Volume I. Chicago: J.G. Ferguson Publishing, 475; LC 69-11209. The film concludes with Becky lowering her face into her hands and weeping. 

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The novel explores a range of possible attitudes toward space exploration and science in the early twenty-first century in which he lays down his concerns about anti-intellectualism and the loss of the pioneering spirit in modern American politics and culture. In Titan, the United States is ruled by a fundamentalist Christian President named Xavier Maclachlan who, believing Earth is the centre of the universe, orders the equal treatment of the Ptolemaic model of the solar system in high school curricula, all the while youth culture goes into a rebellious downward spiral with the widespread adoption of digital entertainment technology. Due to its far-right isolationist policies, the United States have severed ties with the rest of the world (including within themselves with seceding nation-states), especially while tensions grow with the emerging power of China, which is engaged in a determined bid to gain control of space after the American Shuttle program comes crashing down with the loss of Columbia (but not in the same way as actual events. In this timeline, instead of disintegrating on re- entry the shuttle makes an irreparable crash landing with the loss of two of the crew), and NASA has no public or political support to help recover from the accident. Consequently, under Maclachlan's executive plans, the US military merges with the space agency for its resources to be diverted into defence spending, including using its space-faring vehicles as weapons platforms and forcing NASA to develop ethnically-targeted biological weapons tailored to attack Han Chinese. Amid this negative climate and seeing no future for themselves after the permanent shutdown of the space program or for the decadent future of humanity, a small team of scientists and astronauts must persuade NASA to fund a manned mission to Titan to confirm findings of life from the Cassini and to rejuvenate interest in space exploration to the world. They do so by recycling older spacecraft for several purposes: space shuttle Atlantis is refitted to carry cargo into orbit as well as a restored Saturn V for construction of the main ship (a heavily modified version of Discovery using the Shuttle OMS engines for chemical propulsion and powered by a TOPAZ nuclear reactor), using habitat modules from the mothballed International Space Station, and Apollo re-entry capsules are adapted to become Titan landers. On the day of the last launch to begin the mission, with the shuttle Endeavour ready to carry the crew to space, an insane USAF general driven by shallow militarism and hatred for space exploration tries to shoot down the shuttle during lift off. Despite damage sustained from an anti- satellite missile fired from a restored X-15, Endeavour successfully makes it into orbit, and the five crew members begin their six-year journey to Saturn by following the gravity-assisted Interplanetary Transport Network. En route, one crew member dies after a solar storm. The use of a CELSS greenhouse for life support provides a continuous food supply, and the astronauts rely on vegetables, grain and fruit from the greenhouse as they travel on, and dispose of waste via supercritical water oxidation. But things take a dark turn as funding and support for resupply and Earth-return retrieval are cut by Maclachlan's administration (proposed and carried out by the very same men that tried to shoot the shuttle down), leaving the team with no hope for survival beyond what they may find on Titan. Once they reach Saturn and prepare to land on Titan's surface, another crew member is lost during the landing procedure with another effectively crippled. Titan is discovered to be a bleak, freezing dwarf-planet containing liquid ethane oceans, a sticky mud- like surface composed of tholins, and a climate which includes a thick atmosphere of purple organic compounds falling like snow from the clouds; and the only traces of life they find are fossilised remains of microbic bacteria similar to those recovered from Martian meteorites. The remaining astronauts relay their findings back to a largely uninterested Earth. Meanwhile, the Chinese, to retaliate for biological attacks by the US, cause a huge explosion next to an asteroid (2002OA), with the aim of deflecting it into Earth orbit and threatening the world with targeted precision strikes in the future. Unfortunately, their calculations are wrong as they didn't take into account the size of the asteroid which could cause a Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The asteroid strikes Earth, critically damaging the planetary ecosystem. The Titan team members are presumably the last humans left alive. As the surviving astronauts slowly die of disease and in-fighting, they decide to try to ensure life will continue to survive: they take a flask of bacteria and drop it into a crater filled with liquid water, in the hope that some form of life will develop. The novel's final sequence depicts the final two crew members returned to life through some unspecified alien process on Titan where they died, several billion years in the future. The sun has entered its red giant phase, warming the Saturnian system and aiding the evolution of life, in the form of strange, intelligent beetle-like creatures, on Titan. The astronauts watch as the creatures build a fleet of starships to seed new solar systems before the expanding sun boils off the surface of the moon. 

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Lucky Jackson (Elvis) goes to Las Vegas, Nevada to participate in the city's first annual Grand Prix Race. However, his race car, an Elva Mk.6 Maserati, is in need of a new engine in order to compete in the event. Lucky raises the necessary money in Las Vegas, but he loses it when he is shoved into the pool by the hotel's nubile swimming instructor, Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). Lucky then has to work as a waiter at the hotel to replace the lost money to pay his hotel bill, as well as enter the hotel's talent contest in hopes of winning a cash prize sizable enough to pay for his car's engine. During all this time, Lucky attempts to win the affections of Rusty. His main competition arrives in the form of Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova) and his Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta. Mancini attempts to win both the Grand Prix and the affections of Rusty. Rusty soon falls in love with Lucky, and immediately tries to change him into what she wants. 

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At the start of World War II a train departs from Salonika and heads for the Italian Alps, carrying a mysterious cargo. Over the next four decades, various members of the wealthy Italian Fontini-Cristi family, and a small brotherhood of priests with the name Xenope, struggle to locate and control the deadly secret cargo. 

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After surviving their expedition to King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and Jesse have settled down in colonial Africa. They are engaged to be married and Jesse plans that they will travel to America for the wedding. But Allan is restless. A man chased by two strange masked men emerges from the jungle, and is recognised as one of Quatermain's friends. He is delirious and is cared for by Jesse and Allan, but at night, his pursuers return and kill him. Before he dies, he tells Allan that his brother, supposedly lost, is alive, and that they have found the legendary 'Lost City of Gold'. Quatermain immediately starts preparing for an expedition to find his lost brother. Jesse is furious and stalks off, but then realises how important this is to Allan. Allan and Jesse are assisted by Umslopogaas, a fearless warrior and old friend of Allan's, to put together an expedition. Swarma, a spiritual guru, and five Askari warriors, accompany them. The group crosses the Sahara desert; two Askari are lost when Swarma trips a trap that opens a pit under the road to the city. Another member of the party is lost when savage Esbowe warriors attack the group. Many spears are thrown at Quatermain and his friends, but Umslopogaas deflects most of them with his giant axe. Quatermain and his friends indeed discover the city. The inhabitants, both black and white, are friendly, and Allan meets his brother Robeson, seemingly in good health and at peace in the society. The city boasts two queens—the noble and beloved, Nyleptha and her power-hungry sister, Sorais. But the real leader is the evil High Priest, Agon, feared by all. Allan raises the population against Agon and Sorais, who musters an army to recover the city by force. Allan realizes that they can make all the weapons they need out of gold, which is mined by the population. The final battle ends when, atop the temple, during a lightning storm, Allan uses Umslopogaas' axe to channel the lightning and melt the gold (into liquid form) causing it to flow off the side of the structure and pour over the attacking horde, turning Agon and his army into gold statues. 

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The story concerns the attempts of a fictional Greek village community deep in Anatolia in 1921 to stage a Passion Play - which, as the title suggests, ends up with their in effect re-enacting the events of Jesus Christ's trial, suffering and death. The name of the village is Lycovrisi (Wolf-spring), under Ottoman rule. The village holds Passion Plays every seven years and the elders of the village choose the actors from among the villagers. Manolios, who is chosen to play the role of Christ, is a humble shepherd boy who was once a novice in a monastery. Yannakkos becomes Apostle Peter. He is a merchant- peddler who travels with his donkey through the villages and sells his items. He is warm-hearted, naïve and loves his donkey above all else. Michelis, the son of the wealthy nobleman old Patriarcheas, becomes Apostle John. Kostandis, the owner of the village café, is Apostle James the Great. He is good-hearted, willing to share, but confused. Then comes Panayotaros, who is chosen to be Judas. He is a wild, passionate man, waiting for revenge. The widow Katerina is Mary Magdalene. She is the village's prostitute. She is beautiful, but of course an outsider in the village, not caring about anybody's opinion. But she is the most generous one and in the end gives her life for what she believes in. Then the Elders of Lycovrissi are introduced. There is the Priest Grigoris — a domineering man who bends God's will to his own. Archon Patriarcheas is the leader of the village. He only lives for his own pleasure. Old Ladas is a miser who is obsessed with his money but lives in poverty so that he doesn't have to spend any of it. Hadji Nikolis is the schoolmaster, who means well but is ineffectual, haunted by fear of his brother the priest. The whole story is made colorful by the Turkish household consisting of The Agha, the Lord of Lycovrissi. He lives surrounded by his Oriental splendor, drinks himself crazy and enjoys rakı and pretty boys. Hussein is the guard, a giant Oriental who does everything his master asks of him. Another character is the Priest Fotis. He comes to the village with a whole group of starved villagers from a devastated village which has been overrun by the Turks, and they are looking for shelter in Lycovrissi. Denied this by the priest Grigoris, the refugees retire to the barren slopes of the nearby mountain Sarakina, where they continue to starve. The villagers, simple, earnest people who are fond of Manolios, who plays Christ, Yannakos, Apostle Peter, Michelis, Apostle John etc. are indoctrinated by the elders. The main factor is a real saintly priest, Father Fotis who comes to the village to ask for help with hundreds of hungry and dying people and who is turned away from the village and finds a refuge in the barren mountain. There he tries to survive with the help of Manolios, Yannakos, Michelis and Konstandis. Father Grigoris is afraid to lose the power over the village and starts his hate campaign first against the priest and his people and then against the rest of the group. At one point Manolios offers his life to save the village, but in the last minute he is saved. The venom of the village elders appalls even the Agha, but he is too comfortable and too afraid to lose his power to do anything. Manolios ends his engagement and lives up in the hill praying to God and follows his voice. Michelis gives up his riches and comes to live with Manolios. This of course infuriates and in the end kills his father. One main character, Panayotaros, Apostle Judas, doesn’t really change in character, but he becomes very dangerous and a real Judas. He doesn’t care for his life anymore after widow Katerina dies, for whom he has a crazy desire. He is the one who spies on the people up in the mountain and on Michelis and Manolios and reports it to Father Grigoris, one of the main villains. In the end a mob consisting of the villagers kill Manolios: “For an instant Manolios’s heart failed him, he turned to the door - it was closed; he looked at the three lit lamps and, under them, the icons loaded with ex-votos: Christ, red-cheeked, with carefully combed hair, was smiling; the Virgin Mary, bending over the child was taking no interest in what was happening under her eyes. Saint John the Baptist was preaching in the desert. He raised his eyes toward the vault of the church and made out in the half-light the face of the Almighty, bending pitilessly over mankind. He looked at the crowd about him; it was as if in the darkness he saw the gleam of daggers. The strident voice of old Ladas squeaked once more: “Let’s kill him!” At the same moment, violent blows were struck upon the door; all fell silent and turned toward the entrance; furious voices could be heard distinctly: “Open! Open!” “That’s the voice of father Fotis!” someone cried. “Yannakos’s voice,” said another; “the Sarakini have come to take him from us!” The door was shaken violently, its hinges creaked; there could be heard a great tumult of men and women outside. “open, murderers! Have you no fear of God?” came the voice of father Fotis, distinctly. Priest Grigoris raised his hands. “In the name of Christ,” he cried, “ I take the sin upon me! Do it, Panayotaros.” Panayotaros drew the dagger and turned to father Grigoris. “With your blessing, Father!” he asked. “With my blessing, strike!” Priest Fotis and his people bring the dead body of Manolios to the mountain. He kneels next to him and holds his hands. “Toward midnight the bell began ringing, calling the Christians to the church to see Christ born. One by one the doors opened and the Christians hastened toward the church, shivering with cold. The night was calm, icy, starless.” “Priest Fotis listened to the bell pealing gaily, announcing that Christ was coming down on earth to save the world. He shook his head and heaved a sigh: In vain, my Christ, in vain, he muttered; two thousand years have gone by and men crucify You still. When will You be born, my Christ, and not be crucified any more, but live among us for eternity.” 

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After Homer notices that his coworkers Lenny and Carl enjoy special privileges at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he learns they are part of an ancient secret society known as the Stonecutters. To join, one must either be the son of a Stonecutter or save the life of a Stonecutter. While extolling the secret society at the dinner table, Homer discovers that his father is a member and is admitted. After his initiation, Homer takes great pleasure in the society's secret privileges. During a celebratory dinner with his fellow Stonecutters, he unwittingly destroys their Hallowed Sacred Parchment. He is stripped of his Stonecutter robes and sentenced to walk home naked. Before he leaves, the Stonecutters see that Homer has a birthmark in the shape of their emblem, signifying he is the Chosen One who will lead them to greatness. Homer is crowned the new leader of the Stonecutters. He soon feels isolated by his power when the other members treat him differently because he is their leader. When Homer asks Lisa for advice, she suggests that he have the Stonecutters perform volunteer work for the community. The Stonecutters take this the wrong way and form a new society, the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers. Homer becomes despondent about losing his secret club. Marge consoles him by telling him he is a member of a very selective club: the Simpson family. To initiate Homer, Bart and Lisa paddle his butt. 

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This telenovela tells the story of Maria Salomé, a young and stunning gypsy woman, played by Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera. She falls in love with a "gayó" (a non-gypsy man), Sebastián - played by Colombian actor Manolo Cardona. From the moment they meet in the fishing village of Topolobampo (Sinaloa), it is love at first sight. However, their love is forbidden by the gypsy code and judged because of the racism that exists against Maria's culture. Other important characters include Salomé's grandfather (El Patriarca) and her mother Jovanka (Dolores Heredia), Rafael Domínguez (Carlos Torres Torrija), Padre Juan Domínguez (Saúl Lisazo), Doña Victoria Domínguez (Saby Kamalich), Mamá Pasca, Jonás (Erick Elías) and his father Drago, and Salomé's sisters Maria Sashenka and María Magdalena, as well as the iconic image of Santa Sara (Saint Sarah). 

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Bernardo Elizondo is the owner of a hacienda, where he lives with his wife, Doña Gabriela, and their daughters; Norma, Jimena and Sara (affectionately nicknamed Sarita), the husband of their daughter Norma; Fernando Escandón, and his father-in-law, Don Martín Acevedo, a retired military man who is paralyzed. Norma and Fernando's marriage was arranged by Doña Gabriela to hide that Norma had been the victim of a rape, but the marriage is in name only and has not been consummated, due to her trauma. Apart from that, Gabriela is in love with Fernando, so she forces her daughter to marry him to keep him close. Although Bernardo is in love with Libya Reyes, a humble young woman, he knows that he could not marry her, since Gabriela, a very despotic woman and very old-fashioned, would never give him a divorce. In any case, he is determined to break with everything in order to live out his love for Libya, and he decides to formally appear before the young woman's brothers; Juan, Óscar and Franco Reyes, who did not support the relationship but approve it, since the happiness of their sister depends on it. Unfortunately, Bernardo has a horse accident and dies. At the same time, Libya discovers that she is pregnant and finds out that Bernardo has died, so she decides to go to the Elizondo house after being convinced by her neighbor, the fruit maker Hortensia and her children, who take her to the hacienda to claim the money, although she is scared and not convinced if she should go. When she arrives at the Elizondo house, Doña Gabriela humiliates and despises her family. Libya flees desperate and commits suicide by jumping off a bridge. When the Reyes brothers find out everything, they swear to avenge the death of their sister and go to the Elizondo estate, but they do not find Doña Gabriela, so they decide to stay at the hacienda, posing as some bricklayers that Doña Gabriela has contracted to build a cabin for Norma and Fernando. This is achieved thanks to the Elizondo housekeeper, Eva Rodríguez, who also wants revenge on Gabriela for having forced her to give up her only daughter, Ruth, for having kept her single and having no resources to support her. Meanwhile, Ruth grew up as the daughter of Raquel and Calixto Uribe, who could not conceive a child due to their advanced age; Raquel is a wealthy old woman and is Gabriela's best friend. By meeting the Elizondo sisters, Óscar Reyes intends to convince his brothers to change their revenge plans and seduce the Elizondo sisters, to pay them with the same currency, although what he really intends is to get the Elizondo money to improve their situation. His brother Juan does not agree with their plans, but when he meets Norma Elizondo he changes his mind because they are instantly attracted to each other. This attraction makes Juan completely forget his revenge plans, but the couple will find many obstacles in the way that they must overcome. Eventually, Norma becomes pregnant with Juan and decides to hide her son's true father, since Fernando and Sarita, who totally hate Juan, know the whole truth, and they have no choice but to keep quiet. Franco has a relationship with a beautiful woman named Rosario Montes, who is a singer at Bar Alcalá and is exploited and mistreated by his representative and lover, Armando Navarro. Instead, Óscar is wrapped in the web of his revenge when he falls in love with Jimena Elizondo. Both are attracted and one day, by the decision of the two, they marry in secret, which causes a great stir to the Elizondo family. After they both start living together in his and his brothers' house, Gabriela discovers that Juan is the true father of the son Norma is expecting, and later both sisters discover that the Reyes are actually brothers from Libya, and they fell in love for revenge on their sister's death, so they decide to leave them forever and return to their family. On the other hand, Franco is hurt, since Rosario cheats on him and marries Armando Navarro. Without caring about his life, he marries Eduvina Trueba, an elderly lady who owns a hacienda, many companies, and a lot of money. On the same day of the wedding, she dies, leaving Franco as the owner of all his property. Months later, Franco meets Sara Elizondo, a woman who hates him to the core (at least that's what she says); after so many fights little by little he falls in love with her, although she was already in love with him. They all have their history, and each couple will fight for the same goal: to be together; but first, they have to face the opposition of their enemies, starting with Doña Gabriela who hates them; There is also Fernando, who also hates the Reyes, especially Juan, because he took his wife Norma, causing their divorce; Dínora Rosales, a woman obsessed with Juan and who becomes Norma's rival; Armando, who vows to take revenge on Franco for being with Rosario, and also Rosario, since his obsession with Franco does whatever it takes to separate him from Sara. After many fights and disappointments, the three couples decide to be happy and live their idyll. On the other hand, the Reyes forge a strong friendship with Ruth, who bears a striking resemblance to their deceased sister Libya (later it is discovered that such similarity is due to the fact that they were cousins, and therefore, Ruth is also related to the Reyes brothers ). Evidence of this friendship is presented when Ruth discovers her origins and runs away from home, being welcomed by the Reyes on their estate. Dínora goes crazy due to her obsession with Juan and kidnaps him, while Ruth decides to save him and both return to the Hacienda de Los Reyes. Later she finds out that Eva is her real mother and they decide to start a mother-daughter relationship. Gabriela, after being disappointed in Sarita, who had been her last hope for an exemplary daughter, decides to marry Fernando, despite the opposition of her daughters and Don Martín. Little by little, Fernando is gaining ground on the hacienda, destroying it, and begins to manipulate Gabriela at his whim. So much so, that in a strong discussion of Fernando with Jimena, he tries to rape her, but her mother does not believe her accusations and forces her to leave the hacienda. Óscar finds out about everything and decides to give Fernando a beating, which further increases the tension between Gabriela and Fernando, with the Reyes brothers. Meanwhile, Norma discovers that Fernando is cheating on her mother, but she does not believe the accusations again. Fernando has a strong fight with Norma on the balcony of the hacienda, and when she tries to defend herself against him, she pushes him, which forces her to leave with her son from the hacienda and go live with Juan, whom she later marries in a small chapel. 'Final stage' One night, Sara decides to follow Fernando to demonstrate to her mother that she is not the type she thinks, and discovers that Fernando has a mistress living in a small cabin on the outskirts of the region. In that, Gabriela decides to accompany her another night and they discover that the woman with whom Fernando is cheating on her, is Dínora Rosales, but she decides to confront him on her own and denounces Dínora to the police. Fernando and Dínora, obsessed with money and having failed their plan to separate Juan and Norma, kidnap Gabriela in their own estate and force her to take Sarita out of it, then lock her (Gabriela) in the basement, and confine Don Martín in a psychiatric hospital without imagining what is coming. Raquel, after not knowing anything about Gabriela for several days, decides to go to the hacienda and discovers that she was kidnapped in the basement, and when trying to escape from the hacienda to go and tell the police about what happened, Fernando and Dínora send the henchmen of Armando Navarro, who is also complicit in everything, to be caught and, in the chase, Raquel takes the wheel and decides to crash her car with that of Armando's bodyguards, causing an explosion in which Raquel, her husband Calixto, his driver Guadalupe and Armando's two bodyguards die. Over the days, Raquel's lawyer reads his will, in which he says that his properties, his actions, his other accounts, and all his fortune pass into the hands of Eva Rodríguez, Ruth's true mother. Martín meets Mrs. Hortensia, who was confined in the sanatorium and they escape to notify the others about what is happening at the hacienda. Juan, upon learning that Gabriela was kidnapped, decides to go save her without telling anyone but ends up being kidnapped along with Gabriela. In that, the police arrive and surround the house, but Fernando and Dínora use Juan and Gabriela as hostages so that they are not arrested. Armando, who was also at the hacienda at the time of the operation, decides to go out and negotiate with the authorities, but he goes crazy and decides to assassinate Franco Reyes. Rosario intervenes and is shot, while the police kill Armando. Meanwhile, Rosario manages to survive in the hospital and apologizes to Franco and Sara for all the damage caused. After Franco paid the sum that Fernando and Dínora had asked for the rescue of Juan and Gabriela, they decided to escape in the middle of shooting with the hostages and on the way Dínora decided to seek refuge in the swampy jungle. In the jungle, Gabriela apologizes to Juan for all the damage she has caused him and his brothers. When the police and the Reyes learn that Juan and Gabriela are in the swampy jungle, they decide to contact the Reyes' uncle, Aníbal Guerrero, who when he arrives meets Eva, with whom he had a relationship, and turns out to be the father of Ruth. Dínora decides to seduce Juan, but he drives her away causing a fight which causes the two to wallow in the mud, causing Dínora to be bitten by a poisonous snake. Later, Fernando assassinates Dínora, since she is thrown on top of him, delirious with the poison, and her body falls into the swamp. At that moment, Juan and Gabriela separate from Fernando and find the exit, but at this point, he arrives and shoots Gabriela. When he wants to shoot Juan, Fernando falls into the quicksand; Then he uselessly asks Juan for help and dies. Later they are all rescued, and Gabriela accepts the relationship of her daughters with the Reyes and decides to put down the fence that divides both estates. Franco and Sara, finally at peace, marry through the church in the presence of all their loved ones. In the final scenes, you can see how Rosario sings in the Bar Alcalá, and the three brothers and three sisters riding together in the field. And finally, everyone was able to live happily without worries. 

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Four girls (Mónica, Elena, Leticia and Isabel) enroll in an art academy to pursue their dreams of careers in acting and singing. The four are from different backgrounds: *Monica is wealthy but humble and sweet. She dates Rodrigo, who works under her father at their supermarket and drives a taxi on the side. When Rodrigo is framed by Monica's cousin Federico and sent to jail for industrial espionage, she stands by him, but she cannot forget her previous boyfriend Roger, who was also the object of attempted murder by Federico. *Elena is poor and tough. She was Rodrigo's first girlfriend, but Rodrigo dumped her for Monica, causing a rift between the two girls. Later, however, it is revealed that Elena's father is also Monica's biological father; their respective mothers, also active in theater, had been friends and rivals. *Isabel is middle-class and selfless. She lives with her widowed father. She gets involved with Pedro, who turns out to be married, but though Pedro's terminally ill wife forgives her and entrusts her with the care of their daughter, Betty, she distrusts Pedro. *Leticia is a middle-class social climber, who is not hesitant to speak her mind and to pretend to get on with rich men. She eventually "marries" Federico, not realizing that the wedding has no legal effect (the license was not properly filed). She is later sent to work for her grandmother, who was also once a social climber but has mellowed and grown wiser. 

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On the night of Mardi Gras, a wealthy old man named Jason Foster is attended by his physician, Dr. Sam Thorne, who warns him that his death is imminent. Cranky and candid, Jason is not cheered by the arrival of his daughter Emily Harper and her family: husband Wilfred, son Wilfred Jr., and daughter Paula. All four have terrible traits: Emily is a cowardly hypochondriac who whines about her perceived ailments; Wilfred, a successful businessman, is greedy, thinking of everything in monetary terms; Paula is vain, constantly checking her appearance in the mirror; and Wilfred Jr. is an oafish, sadistic bully who enjoys causing pain and suffering. Jason is not shy about his opinions and openly insults each of them. He says he has a special Mardi Gras party planned for the group that night. After dinner, the family gathers in Jason's study where he instructs them to put on special one-of-a-kind masks, which he says are "crafted by an old Cajun". Explaining that an old Mardi Gras custom involves wearing a mask that is the opposite of one's true personality, Jason sarcastically gives one to each person: a sniveling coward for Emily, a miserable miser to Wilfred, a twisted buffoon to Wilfred Jr., and a self-obsessed narcissist to Paula. He dons a skull mask, saying that it represents death as opposed to his life. The others refuse to participate at first, but Jason rightfully accuses them of only being there to claim his fortune upon his death. He informs them that his will is drawn up so that they inherit everything, but only if they wear their masks until midnight. They reluctantly concede and put on their masks. As the hours tick by, all four beg to be allowed to take off the masks, saying that they are unbearable. Their pleas are wasted on Jason, who delivers a final tirade to his family as the clock strikes midnight. "Without your masks, you're caricatures!" he says as he dies. The four rejoice in their newly inherited wealth and unmask, but discover to their horror that their faces now conform to the hideous features of the masks. Jason's face, on the other hand, proves to be superficially unchanged. Dr. Thorne observes, "This must be death. No horror, no fear, nothing but peace." 

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Mixing history and legend, it presents a situation in which pagan and Christianized Basques unite under the first king of Navarre and ally with Pelayo, the first king of Asturias to defend Catholic Iberia against the invading Muslims. Amaya is a Christian noblewoman, daughter of a Basque woman and Ranimiro, the ruthless Visigoth general. She is a niece to pagan leader Amagoya, who prefers her other pagan niece as heiress to the secrets of Aitor, the Basque ancestral patriarch. Pacomio is a Jew conspiring in disguise among Muslims, Visigoths and Basques. Eudes, duke of Cantabria, is Pacomio's son, but, by hiding his Jewish origin, has reached a high post in the Visigoth kingdom and aspires to power beyond what his allies and his father would allow. At the end, the secret of Aitor is revealed, to recommend Christianity; the pagan Basques (except for Amagoya) convert and Amaya marries the Basque resistance leader, García, becoming the first monarchs of Navarre. The legends of Teodosio de Goñi and San Miguel de Aralar, the Caba Rumía, the Table of Solomon in Toledo, and others are also mentioned in the plot. 

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The Food of the Gods is divided into three "books": "Book I: The Discovery of the Food"; "Book II: The Food in the Village"; and "Book III: The Harvest of the Food." 

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Thirteen-year-old Vic (Sophie Marceau) is new at her high school. She makes friends with Pénélope (Sheila O'Connor) and together they check out the boys at their school, looking for true love. Vic is frustrated by her parents, who will not allow her to attend the "boum", a big party. Her great-grandmother, Poupette, helps her out, and Vic ends up falling in love with Matthieu (Alexandre Sterling). While Vic is busy finding her true love, her parents' marriage faces a crisis when her father's ex-lover demands a last night together. 

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Peter Colt, a British professional tennis player in his thirties whose ranking has slipped from 11th to 119th in the world, has never really had to fight for anything, as his wealthy family allowed him to easily pursue his tennis ambitions. Though he earns a wildcard spot to the Wimbledon tournament, he feels it's time to admit he's getting too old to compete with fitter up-and-coming younger players and intends, after this last Wimbledon, to take a job with a prestigious tennis club. As Wimbledon begins, he bumps into Lizzie Bradbury, the American rising star of female tennis. They fall in love and her interest in him changes his entire perception, even giving him the strength to win again. As their love grows, Peter's game becomes better and better. Lizzie's overprotective father-manager Dennis Bradbury is determined to nip their relationship in the bud, believing it detrimental to her career. One day, Dennis comes to Peter's old flat and yells at him for spoiling his daughter's game. Lizzie overhears this and decides to leave him and focus on her game. The night before their semifinal matches, Peter sneaks into Lizzie's hotel room and persuades her to have sex. The next day, he performs above expectations and wins in straight sets, but Lizzie loses. Lizzie angrily breaks up with Peter, claiming his selfishness made her lose, and decides to immediately return to the United States to train. Peter has to play the final match against Jake Hammond, an arrogant American star and world number 1. At the airport, Lizzie watches an interview on TV in which Peter apologizes and declares his love for her. She returns to Wimbledon. As Lizzie reaches the stadium, Peter has lost two sets in the final and is behind in the third. When the game is suspended due to rain, Lizzie appears in the dressing room and forgives him. She tells him the secret of Jake's tricky serves and Peter fights back to win the title (3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(8-6), 6–4). Now a national hero in Britain, he and Lizzie get married. With his support, Lizzie goes on to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice, ultimately achieving her dreams. In the last scene, Peter is with their younger child, a boy, watching Lizzie and their elder child, a girl, playing tennis on a neighborhood court in New York City. 

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Corridors of Power is concerned with the attempts of an English MP to influence the country's policy on nuclear weapons in the 1950s. The central character is Roger Quaife, an ambitious politician and Cabinet Minister. He is widely attacked for his stand on Britain's position in the thermonuclear arms race; at the same time his affair with another woman leads to potential blackmail. Lewis attempts to assist him in covering up the affair as he supports Quaife's stand on the nuclear question. 

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George Passant is a solicitor in a small English town, whose idealism and eccentricity lead him to accumulate a group of young followers in a mentor-like capacity. Narrated by Lewis Eliot, the novel has the more general background of Eliot's rising career and the changes in English society through the 20th century. 

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There is a tremendous rumble and the Simpsons' house shakes. There is a new flight path to Springfield International Airport overhead. A complaint to an airport official has no effect, and the house is now unsellable. Homer and Marge then go to their congressman, who has been Springfield's representative since 1933. He is so upset by their misfortune that he drops dead. Bart asks Krusty the Clown to run for Congress and he agrees, thinking he can also eliminate everything with which the Government is harassing him. He is adopted as the Republican candidate. His campaign starts badly because he has offended so many minorities with his politically incorrect jokes, but Lisa helps him turn his campaign around by having him connect with regular families and citizens. With this advice and a very helpful Fox News programme, he is elected. To Krusty's chagrin, no-one pays attention to a freshman Congressman, and he is set to work cleaning the graffiti off the walls. He, and the Simpsons, are about to give up, but a janitor, who resembles Walter Mondale, explains to them how a bill really becomes a law. With his help, Bart blackmails a key congressman with a videotape that shows him abusing the free mail policy. Homer manages to get another congressman drunk (and himself as well). Finally, during a session in Congress, the janitor and Lisa, with Homer's drunken diversion, fix the Air Traffic Bill with a paperclip to another bill giving orphans American flags. When the bill comes up for a vote, both the blackmailed congressman and the drunk one consent, and it is passed. Krusty praises the processes of democracy. At home, the Simpsons are happy to get the peace and quiet that they heroically fought for. Homer says that the planes are now flying where they belong — over the homes of poor people. 

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In Desperate Remedies a young woman, Cytherea Graye, is forced by poverty to accept a post as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe, the woman whom her father had loved but had been unable to marry. Cytherea loves a young architect, Edward Springrove, but Miss Adclyffe's machinations, the discovery that Edward is already engaged to a woman whom he does not love, and the urgent need to support a sick brother drive Cytherea to accept the hand of Aeneas Manston, Miss Adclyffe's illegitimate son, whose first wife is believed to have perished in a fire; however, their marriage is almost immediately nullified when it emerges that his first wife had left the inn before it caught fire. Manston's wife, apparently, returns to live with him, but Cytherea, her brother, the local rector, and Edward come to suspect that the woman claiming to be Mrs. Manston is an impostor. It emerges that Manston killed his wife in an argument after she left the inn, and had brought in the impostor to prevent his being prosecuted for murder, as the argument had been heard (but not seen) by a poacher, who suspected Manston of murder and had planned to go to the police if his wife did not turn up alive. In the novel's climax, Manston attempts to kidnap Cytherea and flee, but is stopped by Edward; he later commits suicide in his cell, and Cytherea and Edward marry. 

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The book describes the love triangle of a young woman, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds. Stephen Smith is a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a country background. Henry Knight is the respectable, established, older man who represents London society. Although the two are friends, Knight is not aware of Smith's previous liaison with Elfride. Elfride finds herself caught in a battle with her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her – her parents and society. When Elfride's father finds that his guest and candidate for his daughter's hand, architect's assistant Stephen Smith, is the son of a mason, he immediately orders him to leave. Knight, who is a relative of Elfride's stepmother, is later on the point of seeking to marry Elfride, but ultimately rejects her when he learns she had been previously courted. Elfride, out of desperation, marries a third man, Lord Luxellian. The conclusion finds both suitors travelling together to Elfride, both intent on claiming her hand, and neither knowing either that she already is married or that they are accompanying her corpse and coffin as they travel. 

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At the beginning of the book, it is told that Ethelberta was raised in humble circumstances but, through her work as a governess, married well at the age of eighteen. Her husband died two weeks after the wedding and, now twenty-one, Ethelberta lives with her mother-in-law, Lady Petherwin. In the three years that have elapsed since the deaths of both her husband and father-in-law, Ethelberta has been treated to foreign travel and further privilege by her benefactress, but restricted from seeing her poor family. The events of the story concern Ethelberta's career as a famous poet and storyteller as she struggles to support her family and conceal her secret—that her father is a butler. Beautiful, clever, and rational, she easily attracts four very persistent suitors (Mr. Christopher Julian (a struggling musician), Mr. Neigh and Mr. Ladywell, both gentlemen and friends, and Lord Mountclere, a 65-year old aristocrat with a dubious past), but is reluctant to give her much-coveted hand. She finally elects for Lord Mountclere, after he comes to know the secret of her low birth and family, and she comes to dominate him, running his estate and saving him from bankruptcy. Her unrequited suitor Christopher Julian realises he would never have been happy with her had she married him, and settles for her younger sister Picotee who had been in love with him for years. 

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The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath, and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses, covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy Fawkes Night as Diggory Venn is slowly crossing the heath with his van, which is being drawn by ponies. In his van is a passenger. When darkness falls, the country folk light bonfires on the surrounding hills, emphasising the pagan spirit of the heath and its denizens. Venn is a reddleman; he travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral called reddle (dialect term for red ochre) that farmers use to mark their sheep. Although his trade has stained him red from head to foot, underneath his devilish colouring he is a handsome, shrewd, well-meaning young man. His passenger is a young woman named Thomasin Yeobright, whom Venn is taking home. Earlier that day, Thomasin had planned to marry Damon Wildeve, a local innkeeper known for his fickleness; however, an inconsistency in the marriage licence delayed the marriage. Thomasin, in distress, ran after the reddleman's van and asked him to take her home. Venn himself is in love with Thomasin, and unsuccessfully wooed her two years before. Now, although he believes Wildeve is unworthy of her love, he is so devoted to her that he is willing to help her secure the man of her choice. At length, Venn reaches Bloom's End, the home of Thomasin's aunt, Mrs. Yeobright. She is a good woman, if somewhat proud and inflexible, and she wants the best for Thomasin. In former months she opposed her niece's choice of husband, and publicly forbade the banns; now, since Thomasin has compromised herself by leaving town with Wildeve and returning unmarried, the best outcome Mrs. Yeobright can envision is for the postponed marriage to be duly solemnised as soon as possible. She and Venn both begin working on Wildeve to make sure he keeps his promise to Thomasin. Wildeve, however, is still preoccupied with Eustacia Vye, an exotically beautiful young woman living with her grandfather in a lonely house on Egdon Heath. Eustacia is a black-haired, queenly woman, whose Italian father came from Corfu, and who grew up in Budmouth, a fashionable seaside resort. She holds herself aloof from most of the heathfolk; they, in turn, consider her an oddity, and some even think she's a witch. She is nothing like Thomasin, who is sweet-natured. She loathes the heath, yet roams it constantly, carrying a spyglass and an hourglass. The previous year, she and Wildeve were lovers; however, even during the height of her passion for him, she knew she only loved him because there was no better object available. When Wildeve broke off the relationship to court Thomasin, Eustacia's interest in him briefly returned. The two meet on Guy Fawkes night, and Wildeve asks her to run off to America with him. She demurs. Eustacia drops Wildeve when Mrs. Yeobright's son Clym, a successful diamond merchant, returns from Paris to his native Egdon Heath. Although he has no plans to return to Paris or the diamond trade and is, in fact, planning to become a schoolmaster for the rural poor, Eustacia sees him as a way to escape the hated heath and begin a grander, richer existence in a glamorous new location. With some difficulty, she arranges to meet Clym, and the two soon fall in love. When Mrs. Yeobright objects, Clym quarrels with her; later, she quarrels with Eustacia as well. "Unconscious of her presence, he still went on singing." Eustacia watches Clym cut furze in this illustration by Arthur Hopkins for the original Belgravia edition (Plate 8, July 1878). When he sees that Eustacia is lost to him, Wildeve marries Thomasin, who gives birth to a daughter the next summer. Clym and Eustacia also marry and move to a small cottage five miles away, where they enjoy a brief period of happiness. The seeds of rancour soon begin to germinate, however: Clym studies night and day to prepare for his new career as a schoolmaster while Eustacia clings to the hope that he'll give up the idea and take her abroad. Instead, he nearly blinds himself with too much reading, then further mortifies his wife by deciding to eke out a living, at least temporarily, as a furze-cutter. Eustacia, her dreams blasted, finds herself living in a hut on the heath, chained by marriage to a lowly labouring man. At this point, Wildeve reappears; he has unexpectedly inherited a large sum of money, and is now in a better position to fulfill Eustacia's hopes. He comes calling on the Yeobrights in the middle of one hot August day and, although Clym is at home, he is fast asleep on the hearth after a gruelling session of furze-cutting. While Eustacia and Wildeve are talking, Mrs. Yeobright knocks on the door; she has decided to pay a courtesy call in the hopes of healing the estrangement between herself and her son. Eustacia looks out at her and then, in some alarm, ushers her visitor out at the back door. She hears Clym calling to his mother and, thinking his mother's knocking has awakened him, remains in the garden for a few moments. When Eustacia goes back inside, she finds Clym still asleep and his mother gone. Clym, she now realises, merely cried out his mother's name in his sleep. Mrs Yeobright, it turns out, saw Eustacia looking out the window at her; she also saw Clym's gear by the door, and so knew they were both at home. Now, thinking she has been deliberately barred from her son's home, she miserably begins the long, hot walk home. Later that evening, Clym, unaware of her attempted visit, heads for Bloom's End and on the way finds her crumpled beside the path, dying from an adder's bite. When she expires that night from the combined effects of snake venom and heat exhaustion, Clym's grief and remorse make him physically ill for several weeks. Eustacia, racked with guilt, dares not tell him of her role in the tragedy; when he eventually finds out from a neighbour's child about his mother's visit—and Wildeve's—he rushes home to accuse his wife of murder and adultery. Eustacia refuses to explain her actions; instead, she tells him You are no blessing, my husband and reproaches him for his cruelty. She then moves back to her grandfather's house, where she struggles with her despair while she awaits some word from Clym. Wildeve visits her again on Guy Fawkes night, and offers to help her get to Paris. Eustacia realises that if she lets Wildeve help her, she'll be obliged to become his mistress. She tells him she will send him a signal by night if she decides to accept. Clym's anger, meanwhile, has cooled and he sends Eustacia a letter the next day offering reconciliation. The letter arrives a few minutes too late; by the time her grandfather tries to give it to her, she has already signalled to Wildeve and set off through wind and rain to meet him. She walks along weeping, however, knowing she is about to break her marriage vows for a man who is unworthy of her. Wildeve readies a horse and gig and waits for Eustacia in the dark. Thomasin, guessing his plans, sends Clym to intercept him; she also, by chance, encounters Diggory Venn as she dashes across the heath herself in pursuit of her husband. Eustacia does not appear; instead, she falls or throws herself into nearby Shadwater Weir. Clym and Wildeve hear the splash and hurry to investigate. Wildeve plunges recklessly after Eustacia without bothering to remove his coat, while Clym, proceeding more cautiously, nevertheless is also soon at the mercy of the raging waters. Venn arrives in time to save Clym, but is too late for the others. When Clym revives, he accuses himself of murdering his wife and mother. In the epilogue, Venn gives up being a reddleman to become a dairy farmer. Two years later, Thomasin marries him and they settle down happily together. Clym, now a sad, solitary figure, eventually takes up preaching. 

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The plot of the game revolves around the Fur Fighters, a group dedicated to fighting against General Viggo, the game's main antagonist. At the beginning of the game, Viggo kidnaps the families of the Fur Fighters, stranding their children around the game's various locations and turning the spouses (Or in Tweek's case, mother) into robotic beasts. The story is rather loose, revolving around the Fur Fighters' quest to rescue their babies, save their family and stop General Viggo. 

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;Act I The setting is Oxford University in the year 1892 where a group of college seniors are bidding farewell to the years gone by ("The Years Before Us"). In his dorm room, graduating Jack Chesney is excitedly talking with his butler, Brassett, making sure that luncheon will be ready for later that afternoon. He is so excited because his roommate, Charley Wykeham, has gone to the train station to meet his aunt, Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, who is coming in from Brazil for a visit. Having Charley's aunt there as chaperone will make it quite easy for their two girl friends, Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue, to come for a visit. Charley does return - but without his aunt. Apparently, she never was on the train. After reading her letter more carefully, Charley realizes that he made a mistake - she will be coming on a later one. Not having Charley's aunt there will make it impossible for the girls to stay - no decent girl would remain with two young men unchaperoned. The girls arrive early, and just as expected decide they must leave - not seeing Charley's Aunt Donna Lucia. ("Better Get Out Of Here"). Actually, they are more worried about being caught by their guardian, Mr. Spettigue, (Amy's uncle) who keeps a tight rein on the girls. The girls do leave. After the girls' departure, the boys are a bit depressed; nevertheless, they know that the girls will return when Charley's Aunt is there. In the meantime, Charley tries on his costume for the upcoming student production in which he is appearing. While Charley is doing this, Jack's father, Sir Francis Chesney, makes a surprise visit and informs his son that they are actually penniless. Jack suggests that possibly a wealthy marriage could alleviate their problems and suggests that Charley's rich widow Aunt Donna Lucia might just be the woman for his father to wed. All Sir Francis needs to do is charm her when she comes for lunch later that day. The plan seems to be perfect. After Jack's father leaves, Charley re-enters in costume rehearsing his lines for the school play. It appears that he will be playing a rather mature older woman - much like his Aunt Donna Lucia. Just then, he is informed by telegram that his aunt will not be arriving for lunch. Instead, she will surprise him at a later date. Jack is upset most of all because this will be his last chance to propose to Kitty - tomorrow she leaves for Scotland. The young ladies unexpectedly appear again assuming that a chaperone is there, and in a fit of desperation, Jack suggests that Charley pose as his aunt - anyway he's wearing the costume right now. Charley does pose as his aunt and fools the girls. They cover for Charley saying that he's not feeling well and has retired to his room. The girls' guardian, Mr. Spettigue, comes looking for the girls, and everyone rushes out to hide from him - everyone except Charley who stays to tell Mr. Spettigue that she is "the only young lady present." She finally hits him with her fan and says "Be gone my good man and don't bother me any longer." Utterly baffled and confused, Mr. Spettigue leaves, and the girls and Jack return. Sir Francis then enters the scene and escorts Charley to lunch all ready to woo a rich woman into marriage. Just then, Mr. Spettigue re-enters and sees the girls there just as he suspected. He is quite angry until he learns that this "woman/chaperone" who dismissed him only a few moments earlier is actually the wealthy Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez from Brazil - "where the nuts come from." He, too, is smitten by this rich available widow and is ready to make his move. Together, Sir Francis, Charley, and Mr. Spettigue go off to lunch. It's Charley's job to keep them occupied. Jack, Kitty, and Amy all go off to watch the parade and look for Charley. The scene shifts to a street where the students' band is marching. Everyone is excited by what they hear and see. ("The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Students' Conservatory Band") In a garden, Charley is returning from having just entertained both men. Charley is ready to change back into his regular clothes and go and find Amy who must be wondering where he is. Jack is still frantic and begs Charley to continue for a short while longer so he can talk with Kitty. Charley doesn't care - he has had just about all he can take and goes off to change and find Amy. Kitty comes looking for Donna Lucia, but instead finds herself alone with Jack. It is there that the two are finally able to express their undying love and devotion for each other ("My Darling, My Darling"). Jack's father finds Kitty and Jack together and asks that he speak with his son. It appears that he is going to take his son's advice and marry Donna Lucia. Jack tells him that this is impossible; however, Sir Francis is now more determined than ever. Charley then appears as himself and finally gets to talk with Amy. He apologizes for his absence, and rushes to talk to Amy about their future together before her uncle returns and whisks her away. While Charley only wishes to propose marriage and speak of a future together, Amy only wants to speak of the future - a time of progress with wireless telegraphy, horseless carriages, and stereopticons that move. ("Make A Miracle") Mr. Spettigue enters to find Amy with Charley and tells her to collect her things. They are leaving for good! He has been waiting for far too long for Donna Lucia, and is now ready to take Amy home. In a desperate moment, Charley tells Mr. Spettigue that his aunt really is in love with him. In fact, she's up in Charley's room right now resting from the emotional shock of meeting him. He knows that she'll be back soon. It's just that she has some business to attend to - like writing letters to her banks. The greedy Mr. Spettigue agrees to wait and ponders his possible future and fortune with Lucia ("Serenade with Asides") Charley returns as Donna Lucia, and chases Mr. Spettigue around the garden. In the midst of all this, Jack informs Charley that his father is going to propose to him. In fact, Sir Francis enters and asks Charley to marry him. Charley turns him down, but runs off again as he hears a playful Mr. Spettigue approaching. In the midst of all this, a woman (Charley's real aunt) enters and approaches Sir Francis about finding Charley. As the two look at each other, they realize that they know each other from more than twenty years ago. Sir Francis doesn't know that she is actually Charley's rich Aunt Donna Lucia; in fact, he points out to her that Charley's aunt is right there with them - running around being chased by Mr. Spettigue. She is quite intrigued by it all, and poses as Mrs. Beverly Smythe to better survey the situation. The two then look at each other once more and recall that time long ago when they first met. ("Lovelier Than Ever"). Jack and Charley are going over things, and Kitty and Amy enter to inform Jack that the only way they'll get to marry the girls is to get Mr. Spettigue's consent in writing. The girls also confide in Charley that they are actually really in love with Charley and Jack, but if they don't get consent to the marriages in writing from Mr. Spettigue, they will be financially cut off for good. Charley agrees to get the written consent from Mr. Spettigue and goes off to do so. Kitty and Jack leave Amy alone to think about Charley and all that is happening. Just where has Charley been? She's crazy about him, but can't help thinking that he's off with another girl - possibly the girl she saw in a picture sitting on his piano. ("The Woman In His Room") Brassett enters and sets tea. Charley returns still dressed as his aunt and tells Amy that Charley has sent a message to her - he loves her very much. Sir Francis and the real Donna Lucia (still posing as Beverly Smythe) enter and unexpectedly join them for tea. During a madcap tea party, Donna Lucia presses Charley for information about his/her life in Brazil. Charley tells her about the place where Donna Lucia lived - Pernambuco. A song and ballet sequence (seen through Charley's eyes) revealing just how Donna Lucia and her rich husband met and lived together ends the first act. ("Pernambuco") ;Act 2 The act opens with the Oxford senior graduates posing for their class picture - complete with caps and gowns. They are all there except for Charley. He promised that he'd be there. ("Where's Charley?") Fortunately, he does make it there - just as the picture is being taken. Walking along a street, Charley tries to explain all of his disappearances to Amy, who tries her best to believe him. She also tells him that her uncle is ready to sign a wedding consent form, but Donna Lucia must meet him to get the document. Charley assures her that "she'll" be there, but also tells her that he can't be there at the same time. She doesn't quite know what is going on; however, she trusts him and is excited about marrying him. She leaves Charley alone, and there on that street he thinks about Amy - the most wonderful girl in the whole world ("Once In Love With Amy") Later that day, the girls are in the dressing room preparing themselves for the evening's big dance. While dressing and primping, they also go over all of the most recent events. ("The Gossips") Kitty drags a reluctant Charley - once again dressed as Donna Lucia - to the dressing room. The real Donna Lucia enters and has a good bit of fun making Charley feel uncomfortable while all the ladies ready themselves for the evening's fun. The ladies eventually all leave and Charley is left alone to talk with Mr. Spettigue who comes to play with his new love. Charley fights off Mr. Spettigue's forced advances and finally demands that he be given the letter of consent that has been promised all along. If Mr. Spettigue goes and gets the letter right now, Charley promises that they can announce their own engagement at the ball. Mr. Spettigue excitedly, dashes off to get the letter and meet his love at the ball. Strolling down a garden path Donna Lucia asks Sir Francis if it isn't strange that they have never seen Charley and his aunt together at the same time. Sir Francis has no interest in any of that. All he cares about is dancing the night away with his long lost love. The same is true of Jack and Kitty. In fact, everyone is dancing the night away in love ("Red Rose Cotillion") Charley even makes an appearance as himself to keep poor little Amy happy and content. Mr. Spettigue finally appears and announces the engagement of Kitty and Amy to Jack and Charley. He gives Charley (again dressed as his aunt) the letter of consent. Charley sneaks off and reappears as himself once more. Mr. Spettigue wants to see Charley's aunt one more time, so Charley goes to get her. Mr. Spettigue asks to see Charley, the nephew, once again, and a rather "tired" Charley dashes off to get him. While rushing, Jack accidentally steps on the hem of Charley's skirt and all is "revealed." Charley admits to Amy and everyone that he did it all because of love. Mr. Spettigue is angry and doesn't care that they are in love. Charley tells him that they have the letter of consent, which is all they need. Mr. Spettigue fights them by telling them that he will dispute this. The real Donna Lucia finally steps forward and says that indeed the letter of consent was addressed to her and is a legal document - and she puts her blessing on the wedding. There is nothing Spettigue or anyone can do. All is forgiven and everyone (except for Mr. Spettigue) is happy. (Reprise: "My Darling, My Darling") 

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In the town of Cottonwood Springs, Texas at the turn of the century, Marshal Frank Patch is an Old West style lawman in a community determined to be modern. When Patch kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town decides it is time for the marshal to resign. But Patch refuses, reminding the citizens that when he took the job, the agreement was he could have it as long as he wanted. Afraid of Patch because of his knowledge of their misdeeds in the town's wilder days, the city fathers then decide the only way to remove Patch from office is by violence. Patch humiliates one of the town's councilmen, a cowardly shopkeeper, by slapping him. The man plans to kill Patch, but when Patch faces him down, he turns the gun on himself. The man's son swears revenge, supported by local leaders. They plot to ambush Patch. Aware that he will probably be killed, Patch marries his long-time girlfriend, the local brothel madame. The marriage is on the same day as the shopkeeper's funeral, after which Patch's death is planned. The dead man's son attempts to kill Patch on his own, but is shot by Patch. Patch explains to the dying youth that his father had murdered a man many years ago. Patch covered it up because he had agreed to raise the dead man's child. Patch pursues one of the instigators of the plot to kill him. He wounds and captures him, but then insists on going back out, knowing he will be gunned down. He is shot by hidden gunmen on the rooftops. 

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Eliza Thornberry plays with a family of cheetahs in East Africa's Kenya after being left in charge of the cubs by their mother, Akela. When Eliza strays far from the cheetahs' home, one of the cheetah cubs, Tally, is kidnapped by poachers. Eliza is determined to save the cub, which prompts her grandmother Cordelia to bring her to a boarding school in London for her safety. Upon arriving, Eliza discovers that her pet chimpanzee, Darwin, stowed away in her suitcase. He attempts to blend in but gets both himself and Eliza in trouble. After having a dream in which Shaman Mnyambo tells her to save Tally, Eliza convinces her roommate Sarah Wellington to buy plane tickets for her and Darwin to return to Africa. While taking a train from Nairobi, they encounter an injured male rhinoceros, who was shot at the river by the same poachers, who kidnapped Tally. They jump off the train to save the rhino with the help of veterinarians Bree and Sloan Blackburn. Meanwhile, Eliza's older sister Debbie is left alone with her feral adoptive younger brother Donnie at their comvee, while their parents, Nigel and Marianne, go to film a solar eclipse at Tempo Valley. Eliza returns to the Comvee for supplies; after a small confrontation, Debbie pursues her, Darwin, and Donnie. Cordelia and her husband, Colonel Radcliffe, meet up with Nigel and Marianne to inform them of Eliza's escape, and they also begin searching for Eliza. Darwin, Eliza, and Donnie meet a gorilla who mentions seeing people setting up a fence across Tempo Valley. Then, they run into the Blackburns again. Eliza concludes that the poachers are targeting the elephant herd traveling through the valley. Later, the trio finds Tally in the Blackburns' RV, exposing their true nature as the poachers. The Blackburns capture them and reveal the fence is electrified. Eliza and Darwin get into an argument and Eliza shouts at Darwin to be quiet. Meanwhile, Debbie meets a local Mbuti boy named Boko, who is sent by his village elders to assist her. The two reach the Blackburns' RV, but Sloan holds Debbie hostage after she reveals she is Eliza's sister. When Sloan threatens to kill Debbie if Eliza doesn't tell him how she found out their plan, Eliza admits it was because of her ability to talk to animals. A storm comes and takes away Eliza's powers while the Blackburns flee. They reach Tempo Valley in time to see the elephant herd heading for the electric fence. When Eliza becomes doubtful of herself, Debbie reminds her that she has been helping animals long before gaining her powers, restoring her confidence. The Blackburns, riding a helicopter, order their men to set off explosives, scaring the elephants and making them charge toward the fence. Eliza triggers the fence's electricity prematurely, causing the herd to stop temporarily, and then convinces the lead elephant to turn around. Infuriated by this, Sloan throws Eliza into a river. He then attempts to shoot the elephants, but they pull the Blackburns' helicopter out of the air by its rope ladder and destroy it, causing him and Bree to fall. As Eliza is falling, she is saved by Shaman Mnyambo, who tells her she saved the elephants using her heart instead of her powers. As a reward, he gives her back her powers. After the eclipse, the Blackburns are arrested by rangers, Eliza reconciles with Darwin and she reunites with her family, who decide not to send her back to boarding school, while Boko returns to his village, keeping Debbie's watch as a memento. The Thornberrys return to the Savannah, where Eliza reunites Tally with his family. Debbie is angered when Eliza tells her that she will turn into a baboon if she reveals her secret, and in the process frightens a group of baboons Nigel and Marianne are filming. One of them activates the radio, which plays music that the Thornberrys and the baboons dance to. 

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Recently discharged from service in World War II and surviving on a government pension for unspecified battle wounds, Hazel Motes returns to his family home in Tennessee to find it abandoned. Leaving behind a note claiming a chifforobe as his private property, Motes boards a train for Taulkinham. The grandson of a traveling preacher, Motes grew up struggling with doubts regarding salvation and original sin; following his experiences at war, Motes has become an avowed atheist and intends to spread a gospel of antireligion. Despite his aversion to all trappings of Christianity, he constantly contemplates theological issues and finds himself compelled to purchase a suit and hat that cause others to mistake him for a minister. In Taulkinham, Motes initially finds an address in a bathroom stall and seeks out Leora Watts, a prostitute. He walks into her house, sits on her bed, and places his hand on her shoe without speaking to her first. He befriends Enoch Emery, a profane, manic, 18-year-old zookeeper forced to come to the city after his abusive father kicked him out of their house. Emery introduces Motes to the concept of "wise blood," an idea that he has innate, worldly knowledge of what direction to take in life, and requires no spiritual or emotional guidance. Together, Emery and Motes witness a blind preacher and his teenage daughter crash a street vendor's potato peeler demonstration to advertise for their ministry. The preacher introduces himself as Asa Hawks and his daughter as Sabbath Lily Hawks; Motes finds himself drawn to the pair, which Hawks attributes to a repressed desire for religious salvation. Angry, Motes begins shouting blasphemies to the crowd and declares that he will found his own anti-God street preaching ministry. Motes' declarations are lost on everyone except for Emery, who becomes infatuated with the idea. After Leora destroys his hat for her own amusement, Motes moves into the boarding house where Asa and Sabbath Lily live. Motes becomes fixated on the 15-year-old Sabbath Lily and begins spending time with her. Asa has Sabbath Lily give Motes a newspaper clipping reporting Asa's announcement that he will blind himself with quicklime at a revival in order to detach himself from worldly pursuits. Initially intending to seduce Sabbath Lily in order to corrupt her spiritual purity, Motes discovers that she is in fact interested in him. Now skeptical of her and of her father's entire ministry, Motes slips into Hawks' room one night and finds him without his sunglasses on, with perfectly intact eyes: Hawks had faltered when he had attempted to blind himself because his faith was not strong enough, and ultimately left the ministry to become a con artist. His secret found out, Asa flees town, leaving Sabbath Lily to fend for herself. The 15-year-old moves in with Motes, and he begins to more aggressively pursue his ministry, purchasing a dilapidated car to use as a mobile pulpit. Meanwhile, Emery, believing that Motes' church needs a worldly "prophet," breaks into a museum attached to the zoo where he works and steals a mummified dwarf, which he begins keeping under his sink. He ultimately presents it to Sabbath Lily to give to Motes on his behalf; when Sabbath Lily appears to Motes cradling it in her arms in a parody of the Madonna and Child, Motes experiences a violent revulsion to the image and destroys the mummy, throwing its remnants out the window. Inspired by Motes' fledgling street ministry, local con artist Hoover Shoats renames himself Onnie Jay Holy and forms his own ministry, the "Holy Church of Christ Without Christ," which he encourages the disenfranchised to join for a donation of $1. The absurdity amuses passersby and they begin to join as a joke. This angers Motes, who wants to legitimately and freely spread his message of antireligion. Despite Motes' protests, Holy moves to the next level in promoting his ministry, hiring a homeless, alcoholic man to dress up like Motes and act as his "Prophet." During a rainstorm, Emery seeks refuge under a theater marquee, and learns that as a promotion, a gorilla will be brought to the theater to promote a new jungle movie. An excited Emery stands in line to shake the gorilla's hand, but is startled to find that the gorilla is actually a man in a costume who, unprovoked, tells Emery to "go to hell." The incident causes Emery's "wise blood" to give him some inarticulated revelation, and he seeks out a program of the "gorilla's" future appearances. That night, Emery stalks the man to another theater, stabs him with a sharpened umbrella handle, and steals his costume. Enoch takes the costume out to the woods, where he strips naked and buries his clothes in a shallow "grave" before dressing up as the gorilla. Satisfied with his new appearance, he comes out of the woods and attempts to greet a couple on a date by shaking their hand. Emery is disappointed when they flee in terror, and finds himself alone on a rock overlooking Taulkinham. Back in town, Motes angrily watches as Holy begins to grow rich off of his new ministry. One night he follows Holy's "prophet" as he drives home (in a car resembling Motes's), which he runs off the road; when the man exits the car, the stronger, more forceful Motes threatens him and orders him to strip. The man begins to comply, but Motes is overcome by a sudden rage and repeatedly runs the man over. Exiting the car to ensure he is dead, Motes is startled when the dying man begins confessing his sins to Motes. The next day, Motes is pulled over by a strange policeman with unnaturally blue eyes, who claims to be citing him for driving without a license. He orders Motes to drive to a nearby cliff, orders him out of the car, then, remarking that someone without a license doesn't need a car, pushes it off the cliff. The incident, coupled with the false prophet's death, causes Motes to become sullen and withdrawn. Motes purchases a tin bucket and sack of quicklime and returns to the boarding house. Completing the action that Hawks couldn't finish, he blinds himself with the quicklime. During an extended period of living as an ascetic at the boarding house, he begins walking around with barbed wire wrapped around his torso and sharp rocks and pebbles in his shoes, and after paying for his room and board, he throws away any remaining money from his military pension. Believing that Motes has gone insane, the landlady, Mrs. Flood, hatches a plot to marry him, collect on his pension, and have him committed to an insane asylum. In attempting to seduce Motes, Mrs. Flood instead falls in love with him. After she suggests to Motes that they marry and she care for him, Motes wanders off into a thunderstorm. Motes is found three days later, lying in a ditch and suffering from exposure. Angry at being asked to return what they believe is a mentally-ill indigent, one of the cops who find Motes strikes him in the head with his baton while loading Motes into a police car, exacerbating Motes' rapidly deteriorating condition. Motes dies in the police car on his way back to the boarding house. When the dead Motes is presented to Mrs. Flood, she mistakenly thinks he is still alive. She has him placed in bed and cares for his lifeless corpse, telling him he can live with her for as long as he likes, free of charge. Looking into his empty eye sockets, Mrs. Flood thinks she sees a light twinkling inside them. 

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Robert Lomax is a young Englishman who, after completing his National Service, goes to work on a plantation in British Malaya. During his time in Malaya, Lomax decides to pursue a new career as an artist for a year. Lomax visits Hong Kong in search of inspiration for his paintings. He checks into the Nam Kok Hotel, not realising at first that it is a brothel catering mainly to British and American sailors. However, this only makes the hotel more charming in Lomax's eyes, and a better source of subject matter for his paintings. Lomax quickly befriends most of the hotel's bargirls, but is fascinated by the archetypal "hooker with a heart of gold", Suzie Wong. Wong previously introduced herself to him as Wong Mee- ling, a rich virgin whose father owns four houses and more cars than she can count, and who later pretends not to recognise him at the hotel. Lomax had originally decided that he would not have sex with any of the bargirls at the hotel because he lacks the funds to pay for their services. However, it soon emerges that Suzie Wong is interested in him not as a customer but as a serious love interest. Although Wong becomes the kept woman of two other men, and Robert Lomax briefly becomes attracted to a young British nurse, Lomax and Wong are eventually united and the novel ends happily with them marrying. 

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Time has passed since Mike Haggar, along with his friends Cody and Guy, defeated the Mad Gear gang and restored peace to Metro City. While the trio has continued living their normal lives, with Cody taking a vacation with his girlfriend Jessica, Guy going off to a training journey, and Haggar continuing to run Metro City as Mayor, the surviving Mad Gear members have secretly regrouped plotting their revenge under a new leader. They begin by kidnapping Guy's fiancée in Japan, Rena, along with her father and Guy's former sensei Genryusai. With Guy nowhere to be found, Rena's younger sister, Maki Genryusai, calls Haggar and informs him of the situation. Accompanied by his friend Carlos Miyamoto, Haggar travels to Eurasia and meets up with Maki, and the three of them join forces to take on the newly revived Mad Gear. After a series of fights in several countries, the trail leads to Japan where they fight Retu, the new leader of the Mad Gear. The three defeat Retu, who falls to his doom like Belger in the first game and rescue Genryusai and Rena. Guy then writes a letter to his friends from abroad thanking them for all they have done. 

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Following the annihilation of the Mad Gear Gang, a new criminal group named the Skull Cross Gang emerges as the new dominant criminal organization in Metro City. When Guy returns to Metro City from his martial art training to become reacquainted with his friend Mike Haggar, the Mayor of Metro City, the two are suddenly informed that the Skull Cross Gang has started a riot in the downtown area of the city. Joined by Lucia, a detective in the Metro City Police's Special Crimes Unit, and Dean, a street fighter whose family was murdered by the Skull Cross Gang, Guy and Haggar must once again save Metro City from its newest menace. 

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Riders of the Purple Sage is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community ("Mormon" is the informal term for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull, in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah. Jane Withersteen, a born-and-raised Mormon, provokes Elder Tull because she is attractive, wealthy, and befriends "Gentiles" (non- Mormons), namely, a little girl named Fay Larkin, a man she has hired named Bern Venters, and another hired man named Lassiter. Elder Tull, a polygamistMormons officially ended the practice of polygamy in 1890. with two wives already, wishes to have Jane for a third wife, along with her estate. The story involves cattle-rustling, horse-theft, kidnapping and gunfights. 

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Master thief Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) and his beautiful accomplice, Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), steal the second of three famous diamonds, known as the Napoleon diamonds, from FBI Agent Stanley P. Lloyd (Woody Harrelson). But Lloyd shoots Max before passing out from being gassed by the thieves. Max survives and tells Lola to get the diamond. She does, leaving in its place the one-dollar bill that she had received as a tip for washing the agents' windshield (while in disguise). Max and Lola then fly to Paradise Island in The Bahamas. Agent Stanley P. Lloyd shows up 6 months later and accuses Burdett of planning to steal the third Napoleon diamond, which is on a cruise ship that will be docking for a week on the island. He denies this, and unwittingly turns the tables and befriends the frustrated detective Lloyd, showing him the pleasures that Paradise Island has to offer, even paying for the most expensive suite, the bridge suite, for as long as Lloyd is there. Lloyd, out of his element, adapts quickly to the easy-going Caribbean lifestyle and partners up with Sophia, a local constable, to try to capture Max at last when he steals the diamond, which Max visits and later gives in to the temptation to steal. Henri Mooré, a powerful, popular tycoon thought of by some as a gangster, learns of Burdett's impressive history as a thief and offers him additional island-life benefits and pleasures in return for stealing the diamond. Burdett, still wanting the diamond for himself, pretends to work with Mooré, and gives him a fake plan as to how he would steal the diamond (which he had earlier related to Stan), having no trouble keeping ahead of his nemesis in the meantime. Lola kicks Max out after he breaks his promise to spend their first sunset on her new deck she had been working on and after she finds out he lied about writing his vows to her. Max is forced to bunk with Stan, and they share their thoughts about each other's lives. The next morning, the authorities and Sophie discover them, revealing that Stan's FBI license is suspended. They team up to win back Sophia and Lola, but Max still gives in and uses the dive trip as a distraction to steal the diamond, which works perfectly when Mooré's man tries at the same time is a caught after the fake plan doesn't work. After the fallout, Lola leaves Max after Lloyd shoots Mooré dead when he comes for the diamond. Max realizes his error, writes his vows, and manages to win back Lola at the airport before she leaves, proposing to her with "the first diamond he ever bought". The next day, Max is met by Stan while celebrating, who reveals he set him up and let Max do all the work while he later recovered the diamond. Max concedes that his nemesis has won this time, and is simply happy to live out his life with Lola, watching sunsets. However, he has fun with Stan when he tries to leave by remote controlling his car again, promising Lola it was the last time. 

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Through her stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary Godwin and her future husband Percy Shelley come to know Lord Byron. During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invites them to stay for a while at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. There they meet Byron's physician friend, Dr. John Polidori. On 16 June, while a storm rages outside, the five of them amuse themselves by engaging in a game of hide-and-seek. Later in a parlor, Percy proclaims his fascination with science; Polidori tells him of his interests in sleepwalking and nightmares. Lord Byron shows his guests Phantasmagoria, a book of horror stories he purchased from a shop in Geneva, and the three alternately read excerpts. This inspires them to hold a séance gathered around a human skull, during which Claire has an apparent seizure. Mary describes them as Claire's "horrors," and recalls instances during their childhood when unexplained phenomena would occur during them, such as Claire's bed inexplicably shaking, and doors slamming shut by themselves. Polidori brings Claire upstairs to rest. During the night, Mary witnesses a shadowy apparition outside the window she and Claire share. Believing Mary was startled by a slamming barn door outside, Percy goes to shut it. While investigating the barn, he is startled by a grotesque creature. Mary speaks with Lord Byron in the billiard room, confronting him about his intentions with Claire, and reveals to him that Claire is pregnant with his child. He suggests she has an abortion, and the two argue, resulting in a physical confrontation. Later, Lord Byron performs oral sex on Claire, during which she has a miscarriage. Meanwhile, Mary consoles Percy, who has grown increasingly paranoid and claims to smell an overpowering scent of decay. From the bottom of the staircase, Mary hears a noise, and feels liquid dripping on her. As she looks up, she sees Polidori leaning over the banister, clutching a bleeding wound on his neck. Once the bleeding is controlled, he claims to have been bitten by a vampire in his room. Byron accuses him of self-inflicting the wounds, while Percy and Mary believe him. Percy raves that the group collectively gave birth to something during the séance, manifesting their worst fears, while Polidori is scared of damnation for his homosexuality. He attempts to poison himself to death with cyanide, but is stopped by Byron. Claire goes missing from her bedroom, and is discovered by Percy; he watches in horror as her breasts metamorphose into eyes; Mary attempts to flee the house, and inadvertently crashes through a glass door. Percy infers that the presence haunting them is feeding off of the group's fear. During a failed attempt to hang himself in the barn, Polidori witnesses a figure flee on horseback. Percy and Byron attempt to recreate the séance to banish their creation. Byron and Percy, both atheists, believe it must be returned to the recesses of their minds, while Mary questions the metaphysical and supernatural events plaguing them. In the basement, the three discover Claire nude and covered in mud. Byron attempts to hold the séance there, but Mary refuses. During the event, Mary crushes the skull, and attempts to stab Byron with a shard. Percy stops her, and begins kissing Byron passionately. As she flees through the home, Mary witnesses an apparition of her son, William, in a coffin, followed by a vision of her suffering a miscarriage. In the madness, she attempts to throw herself off a balcony, but is stopped by Percy. Mary awakens the following morning and joins Byron, Percy, and Claire in the garden. In the contemporary era, tourists visit the Villa. A voice-over informs that Mary's son, William, died three years after that night in June 1816, followed by Percy's drowning in 1822; Byron would die two years after Percy, and Polidori committed suicide in London. From Mary's previous experience of miscarriage came the desire to raise her child from the dead, which led to her writing Frankenstein. From Polidori's homosexuality, suicidal thoughts, and fascination with vampires came the story "The Vampyre." 

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Dragondrums is the coming of age story of Piemur, a small, quick, clever apprentice at Harper Hall. When Piemur's clear treble voice changes, his place among the Harpers is no longer certain. He is sent to the drum towers to learn drumming, the primary method of long-distance communication on Pern for non-dragonriders, while his voice settles. There he has to deal with the jealousy and bullying of the other drumming apprentices. When Masterharper Robinton secretly asks Piemur to be his apprentice, Piemur begins journeying through Pern, gathering information and running discreet errands for the Masterharper. In his adventures throughout Pern, Piemur has only his knowledge and wits to deal with a cruel Lord Holder and rogue dragonriders. He Impresses one of the coveted fire-lizards – a gold he names Farli – as a companion, discovers his place in the world, and earns journeyman status among the Harpers.'' The events in Dragondrums take place after Dragonsinger and are contiguous with some events in The White Dragon, which discusses characters and events elsewhere on Pern. 

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Hong Kong Land tendered the Government $4.76 billion for the plot in February 1982, when the market was at a record high. Prices subsequently dropped, necessitating its debt to be restructured. In February 1983, HKL obtained an eight-year loan of $4 billion, a record. In December 1983, it announced that the plot was to be mortgaged to secure a $2.5 billion loan facility.Lau Wai-kong, $2.5B STANDBY FACILITY – Land mortgages Phase One of Exchange Square, The Standard, 9 December 1983 The second instalment of $2 billion on the plot was due in the financial year 1984/85Michael Blendell, Bark worse than his bite, South China Morning Post, 1 March 1984 

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As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Ittō's (Tomisaburô Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigorō (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration. Two hooded samurai attack Ogami while he is pushing a cart with Daigorō inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade shoots out, transforming it into a spear that impale the second attackers. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death. As Ogami and Daigorō sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigorō the life–death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigorō would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigorō's ball (which would mean that Daigorō would be killed so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigorō chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit seppuku with Daigorō. Ogami chooses to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the Shogun and his men. The Shogun challenges Ogami to fight his son Kurando in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts. Despite Kurando's having the strategic advantage of having the sun behind him and Daigorō riding on Ogami's back, a mirror bound on Daigorō's forehead reflects the sun into Kurando's eyes, blinding him long enough for Ogami to slice off Kurando's head. Ogami and Daigorō journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigorō recalls how the Shogun's other son Lord Bizen (Taketoshi Naitô) and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing chain mail beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream and uses an underwater sword-slash technique to kill him. Ogami sees the Shogun watching from a distance and he swears to the Shogun that he will destroy him and all of his ninjas. The Supreme Ninja (Kayo Matsuo) receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō. Lord Kurogawa (Akiji Kobayashi) doesn't believe the Supreme Ninja's women are up to the task, so she proves otherwise by having her ninjas to kill Kurogawa's strongest ninja Junai. Ogami and Daigorō meet secretly with a client to discuss an assassination request. Ogami is asked to kill Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive a thousand pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three- brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.' During Ogami and Daigorō's journey, they are attacked several times by The Supreme Ninja's women, but Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the Supreme Ninja herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the Supreme Ninja flees by running away backward. Ogami and Daigorō keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigorō in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigorō to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange. The Supreme Ninja meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure, but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigorō. Later that night, Daigorō is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigorō gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigorō is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the Supreme Ninja. Daigorō is tied up and suspended over a deep well; Kurogawa demands that Ogami surrender or he will drop Daigorō down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigorō over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the Supreme Ninja, who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigorō, who has survived, up to safety. Instead of killing the Supreme Ninja, Ogami walks away with Daigorō. Ogami and Daigorō board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the Supreme Ninja. Rebels attack the 'Masters of Death', but are easily dispatched. During the night, the remaining rebel starts a fire on board the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him but that they will not attack him as long as he makes no move against them, and they leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigorō in his cart and throws them both overboard to safety before pole-vaulting himself into the sea. The Supreme Ninja attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigorō, himself and the Supreme Ninja to shore and to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the Supreme Ninja that they must share their body heat or die. The Supreme Ninja doesn't understand why he would save her and realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigorō leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide. The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert of sand dunes, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' then fight off and kill all of the rebels, and Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they haven't gone far before they see Daigorō standing in their way. He points to Ogami, who is waiting. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down and killed. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, killing and driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then cuts Lord Kiru down. As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigorō looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish". The final shot is a freeze-frame close-up of Daigorō's face looking back. 

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The plot centers around Chevette Washington, a young bicycle messenger who lives in the ad hoc, off-the-grid community that has grown on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. Chevette, on a whim, steals a pair of dark-rimmed glasses from a man at a party because she is offended by his demeanor. Soon after, she realizes that the glasses have unlikely importance, as security company henchmen begin tracking and following her. Among the pursuers are Svobodov and Orlovsky, two Russian immigrants who reside in San Francisco and are employed as cops,Davis, Mike, "Virtual Light." Artforum, 1993. as well as Loveless, a ruthless corporate hitman with gold incisors. The glasses contain plans by a powerful corporation to rebuild San Francisco entirely using nanotechnology, and for that reason, they are highly coveted and present a danger to the person who possesses them. Meanwhile, Berry Rydell, a former cop turned private security agent, is contracted to recover the pair of glasses for Lucius Warbaby, an intimidating and presumably successful "skip-tracer", a sort of bondsman/bounty hunter. When Rydell is given the mission, he is not informed of the significance of the glasses and the information they contain. Eventually, the plot climaxes when Rydell, Loveless, Warbaby, Orlovsky, and Svobodov all catch up with Chevette. The cops want the glasses, as does Rydell. Realizing the inherent danger of the situation, Rydell is forced to decide whom to side with. He decides to fight off Orlovsky and Svobodov and shirk his agreement with Warbaby. Instead, Rydell runs off with Chevette, and they embark upon a wild and treacherous journey in which they must remain one step ahead of their enemies, who have all the advantages of wealth and technology on their side. A subplot also focuses on a romantic relationship between Chevette and Rydell, which is initially restricted because of the nature of their circumstances, but is eventually allowed to flourish. Another subplot focuses on a Japanese sociologist named Shinya Yamazaki, who is currently studying the bridge dwellers and the history of their settlement. The subplot largely focuses on his interactions with Skinner, an old man who lives in a shack high atop one of the bridge's support pylons, who happens to share his home with Chevette. 

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In the post Tokyo/San Francisco earthquake world of the early 21st century, Colin Laney is referred to agents of mega-rock star Rez (of the musical group Lo/Rez) for a job using his peculiar talent of sifting through vast amounts of mundane data to find "nodal points" of particular relevance. Rez has claimed to want to marry a synthetic personality named Rei Toei, the Idoru (Japanese Idol) of the title, a claim stranger than usual and therefore questioned by his loyal staff, particularly by his head of security, Keith Blackwell. Blackwell believes that someone is manipulating Rez, and wants Laney to find out who. Simultaneously, the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club is discussing exactly the same topic of the unbelievable marriage of human and AI construct. Fourteen-year-old Chia Pet McKenzie is chosen by the group to go to Tokyo and meet with the Tokyo chapter to find out what is really happening. On the flight she meets a woman named Maryalice, who dupes her into unwittingly carrying a contraband item through customs in Tokyo. Laney accepts his new position warily, but is conflicted throughout much of the novel by his past involvement with a powerful infotainment organization, "SlitScan", which thrives on destroying media personalities by exposing their secrets. In the course of this earlier job he feels responsible for the death of an innocent party. His talent had allowed him a foreshadowing of a probable suicide but SlitScan had tried to limit Laney's role to passive observer. However, Laney's conscience snapped and he attempted at the last moment to stop the suicide, but instead became mired in a scandal. Yet another organization claiming to be a media watchdog steps in and tries to pull Laney away from SlitScan to use his story to expose SlitScan’s involvement in illegal spying. This goes awry and Laney is left high and dry and alone. Further complicating Laney’s life is that Kathy Torrance, his controller from SlitScan, is attempting to blackmail him with false evidence into betraying his current employers, Lo/Rez, by exposing whatever secret she thinks they are hiding. Chia, after being brought to the club run by Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie, is helped to escape by one of the club’s employees who perceives that she is in danger. She takes with her the contraband which was slipped into her luggage. When she meets with the local Tokyo chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club she is disappointed by their seeming indifference to the impending "wedding" and they inform her this is merely an unfounded rumor. Disbelieving, Chia decides to investigate on her own and seeks the help of her host Mitsuko’s brother Masahiko, an otaku who is a member of the hacker community the "Walled City" (a virtual community based on Kowloon Walled City). Masahiko and Chia embark on a search for the truth to the marriage of Rez and Rei by going to the club where Rez announced the event, though the club no longer exists in the rapidly changing Tokyo scene. Masahiko is informed by other denizens of Walled City that he is being watched, both on the net and physically at his (and his sister’s) home. Chia admits to Masahiko that she has found something in her luggage and that might be what the unknown men are seeking. The contraband turns out to be a highly illegal nanotech assembler, a device used for high-speed material fabrication, which Eddie smuggled in on behalf of the Kombinat. Chia and Masahiko go to a love hotel to try to hide from the searchers. It is here that all the parties converge. When Chia and Masahiko link into the net, the Idoru (Rei) manifests herself in Chia's Venice simulation after she realizes that Chia is playing a part in her evolution. Maryalice finds the hotel through their taxi record, letting herself into their room. Lamenting her recent breakup with Eddie over the botched smuggling operation, she tells them that giving back the device won’t stop them from being killed as witnesses. Masahiko and Chia go onto the Net to get the help of Chia’s friend Zona Rosa, who claims to be the leader of a Mexico City "girl gang" and from the denizens of the distributed system, Walled City. In short order, Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie shows up with a member of the Kombinat to reclaim the nanotech device. This prompts Zona Rosa (who has been viewing events over the net) into making a terrible personal sacrifice to save Chia. Events rapidly come to a head when Rez and Blackwell arrive. Laney sees events occurring (and about to occur) in the datastreams and rushes with Lo/Rez’s support crew to the love hotel. A deal is struck and most of the parties are accommodated. The ultimate resolution is left open as to whether the Rez/Rei union is made possible with the nanotechnology that they have obtained. 

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In contemporary Russia, Ivan and his older brother Andrei have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Both their mother and grandmother live with them. After running home after a fight with each other, the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a 12-year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing, Ivan and Andrei set out on what they believe will be a simple fishing vacation with him. Andrei is delighted to be reunited with their father and Ivan is apprehensive towards the man whom they know only from a faded photograph. At first, both brothers are pleased with the prospect of an exciting adventure, but they soon strain under the weight of their father's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for the missing decade. Ivan and Andrei find themselves alternately tested, rescued, scolded, mentored, scrutinized, and ignored by the man. Andrei seems to look up to his father while Ivan remains stubbornly defensive. As the truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primeval wilderness coastline, Ivan's doubts give way to open defiance. Andrei's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Ivan. Ivan and his father's test of will escalates into bitter hostility and sudden violence after the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination. Ivan has an outburst of anger after witnessing his father strike Andrei. He shouts at his father, runs into the forest, and climbs to the top of the observatory tower. Andrei and their father run after him. The father tries to reason with Ivan, but this only stresses Ivan further. He then threatens to jump down from the top of the tower. The father tries to reach out to him, but falls to his death. Ivan and Andrei take the body across the forest, bring him on board the boat, and sail back to where they came. While the boys are putting their gear in the car, the boat starts to drift away. Andrei screams, "Father!" and starts running towards the shore, followed by Ivan, but it is too late. The boat and the body are sinking. Ivan screams "Father!" for the first and the last time from the bottom of his heart. They get into the car and drive away. The film ends with still images from their journey. 

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Nitemare 3D follows the story of Hugo, from the Hugo trilogy, a series of graphic adventure PC games consisting of Hugo's House of Horrors, Hugo II, Whodunit?, and Hugo III, Jungle of Doom!. Penelope, Hugo's girlfriend, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Hammerstein for use in heinous experiments. Hugo must battle through Hammerstein's bizarre mansion, caverns complete with prisons and laboratories, and finally through a twisted alternate dimension of demons and aliens in an attempt to save her. 

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In 1948, young Ray Charles Robinson, the blind son of a sharecropper, boards a bus at a rest stop in northern Florida. Ray lies to the racist bus driver about losing his sight at Omaha Beach in 1944 during the war to get a free ride. He travels to Seattle, Washington where he uses his unexpected talent for the piano to get a job playing for a nightclub band. The club's owner (Denise Dowse) soon begins to exploit Ray, demanding sexual favors and controlling his money and career. After discovering that he is being lied to and stolen from, Ray leaves the band in disgust. In 1950, Ray joins a white country band who make him wear sunglasses to hide his damaged eyes from audiences. They go on tour, and Ray is introduced to heroin. He also suffers from traumatic flashbacks relating to his childhood in the 1930s. The elder of two brothers, Ray is raised by a fiercely independent single mother, Aretha Robinson. The family is poor, but young Ray finds solace in music. He learns to play the piano from a man at a local store. At age five, Ray is playing with his younger brother George in front of their house when George slips into their mother's full washbasin. Ray laughs at first, thinking George is goofing off, but becomes paralyzed with shock as his brother's limbs thrash violently in the soapy water, scrambling to escape. Aretha rushes to pull George from the water, but it is too late. Ray feels immense guilt over his brother's death, and begins to develop vision problems soon afterward. By age seven, he is completely blind. His mother teaches him to be independent despite his condition, and makes him swear that he will never let the world "turn him into a cripple." Eventually, she sends Ray to a school for the deaf and blind, weeping as her only remaining son boards a bus and disappears. As Ray travels on the road, he demands to be paid in single dollar bills so no one can cheat him. We see another flashback of Ray playing with a country band and the man counting single $1 notes by implying they are $20 to pay Ray. Luckily another band member steps up and demands Ray be paid fairly. As Ray is becoming more and more popular with his music, a man from Atlantic Records discovers him. The man has written a song and offers to let Ray sing it. The song, "The Mess Around" becomes Ray's first hit. Ray ends up meeting Della Bea, a preacher's daughter. He falls in love with her, and the two get married. Della is not happy about Ray mixing gospel and soul music, but realizes he's got undeniable talent. Ray goes out on the road, and meets up with Mary Anne Fisher, a singer who teams up with Ray. On a trip home, Della Bea finds Ray's drugs in his shaving bag, and demands he stop using. Ray refuses, and walks out on a pregnant Della Bea. Ray begins an affair with Mary Anne. As Ray's popularity grows, Ray gets a girl trio to become "The Raylettes". Ray immediately falls for Margie's (Regina King), the lead singer's charms, and the two begin an affair. Another few years later, Ray is out on the road as a headliner, and one night while doing a set, the band finishes early. The owner of the club demands Ray fill the 20 minute slot he has left, and Ray makes up the hit "What I'd Say" on the spot. During the 1960s, Ray is becoming more and more popular. Ray is offered a better contract with another record label, and although he is loyal to Atlantic, Ray leaves them, but on amicable terms. Ray goes to Atlanta to play a concert, and encounters civil rights protests. Ray protests by saying that he will not play if the black concertgoers have to sit in the balcony. Ray ends up being barred from the state of Georgia. Another year or so later, Ray then wants to try and do different things with his music, and incorporates classical and country into his sound. Some of his biggest hits come from this mixture, such as "Georgia on My Mind" which Margie says will be Ray's downfall. Ray also records "I Can't Stop Loving You", for which he receives a standing ovation at one concert. While sleeping in a hotel room, Ray's sleep is interrupted by the police who burst in and arrest him. They tell him that they are acting on an anonymous tip that he has drugs in the room and are there to arrest him. Although heroin is found and Ray is charged with possession, he gets off on a legal technicality because the police didn't have a search warrant. Later, while in a hotel room with Margie, Ray is tinkling on the piano while she gets sick. Margie is pregnant, and demands Ray leave Della and his three children with her. Ray refuses, and Margie is angry. Ray tells Margie to keep her anger, while he literally writes "Hit the Road Jack" complete with Margie's solo. Now that she's got her name out there, Margie leaves the Raylettes to try and make a solo career for herself. In the early 1970s, Ray and Della Bea move into a huge new house with their kids. Della is uncomfortable in the new house. Ray has to go to Canada for another concert. When he gets off the plane, he is arrested for possession of heroin, his concert is canceled, and the Canadian authorities deport Ray back to the USA. The record company has trouble getting him out of this trouble and a judge sentences Ray to go to a treatment clinic. Della and Ray fight about this and the phone rings. Picking up the phone, Ray learns from someone on the other line that Margie is dead... from a drug overdose. Ray swears to Della that he never turned her onto it and wouldn't let her use it when she was around him. Della says she will start sending money to Ray's child with Margie, but Ray tells Della he already sends him money. Ray goes to a rehab clinic where he suffers from withdrawal and nightmares. One night, Ray has a conversation with his dead mother, who chastises him for letting drugs cripple him. Ray tries to apologize, but his mother won't hear of it. Then his little brother George shows up and tells him that he doesn't blame him for his death. In 1979 Ray gets off drugs for good and receives his proudest accomplishment, the state of Georgia officially apologizes to Ray and makes "Georgia On My Mind" the official state song. Ray, Della, and their three grown sons receive applause after Ray performs the song before a live audience. 

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Tom Jeffords comes across a wounded, 14-year-old Apache boy dying from buckshot wounds in his back. Jeffords gives the boy water and treats his wounds. The boy's tribesmen appear and are at first hostile but decide to let Jeffords go free. However, when a group of gold prospectors approaches, the Apache gag Jeffords and tie him to a tree. Helpless, he watches as they attack the prospectors and torture the survivors. The warriors then let him go but warn him not to enter Apache territory again. When Jeffords returns to Tucson, he encounters a prospector who escaped the ambush. He corrects a man's exaggerated account of the attack, but Ben Slade is incredulous and does not see why Jeffords did not kill the Apache boy. Instead, Jeffords learns the Apache language and customs and plans to go to Cochise's stronghold on behalf of his friend, Milt, who is in charge of the mail service in Tucson. Jeffords enters the Apache stronghold and begins a parley with Cochise, who agrees to let the couriers through. Jeffords meets a young Apache girl, Sonseeahray, and falls in love. A few of Cochise's warriors attack an army wagon train and kill the survivors. The townsfolk nearly lynch Jeffords as a traitor before he is saved by General Oliver Otis Howard who recruits Jeffords to negotiate peace with Cochise. Howard, the "Christian General" condemns racism, saying that the Bible "says nothing about pigmentation of the skin.” Jeffords makes a peace treaty with Cochise, but a group led by Geronimo, oppose the treaty and leave the stronghold. When these renegades ambush a stagecoach, Jeffords rides off to seek help from Cochise and the stagecoach is saved. Jeffords and Sonseeahray marry in an Apache ceremony and have several days of tranquility. Later, Ben Slade's son spins a story to Jeffords and Cochise about two of his horses stolen by Cochise's people. Cochise says that his people did not take them and doubts his story, as he knows the boy's father is an Apache hater. They then decide to go along with the boy up the canyon but are ambushed by the boy's father and a gang of men from Tucson. Jeffords is badly wounded and Sonseeahray is killed but Cochise kills most of the men, including Ben Slade. Cochise forbids Jeffords to retaliate, saying that the ambush was not done by the military and that Geronimo broke the peace no less than Slade and his men, and that peace must be maintained. Jeffords rides off with the belief that "the death of Sonseeahray had put a seal upon the peace, and from that day on wherever I went, in the cities, among the Apaches and in the mountains, I always remembered, my wife was with me.” 

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Havelok is intricately constructed, consisting of a double arc in which the royal heirs of both Denmark and England are unjustly displaced as children but later restored to their rightful positions. The poem opens in England during the reign of Athelwold, who is described in ideal terms as a just and virtuous king. He dies without an adult successor and leaves his young daughter Goldborow to the care of Godrich, Earl of Cornwall, who is to rule as regent until Goldburow can be married. Athelwold stipulates that she should be married to the "highest man in England". After Athelwold's death Godrich immediately betrays his oath and imprisons Goldborow in a remote tower in Dover. The poem then shifts to Denmark, where a similarly virtuous king, Birkabein, dies, leaving behind two daughters, Swanborow and Helfled, and a son, Havelok. Godard, a wealthy retainer, is appointed regent. Godard too betrays his trust: he brutally murders the daughters by cutting their throats and hands the three-year-old Havelok over to a thrall, the fisherman Grim, to be drowned in the sea. Grim recognizes Havelok as the rightful heir to the kingdom when he sees a pair of miraculous signs: a bright light that emerges from the boy’s mouth when he is sleeping, and the “kynemerk,” a cross-shaped birthmark on his shoulder. Grim is persuaded to spare Havelok's life, but tells Godard that he has killed the childThe motive of a Royal baby given to a commoner to be killed, but being spared and growing up as a commoner without knowing his true origins, has many parallels - for example the story of Oedipus in Greek mythology.. Grim flees with Havelok and his family to England, where he finds the town of Grimsby at the estuary of the Humber. Havelok is brought up as part of Grim's family and works as a fisherman alongside Grim and his sons. (Several versions tell that Havelok was raised under a false name, Cuaran, in order to protect his identity, though the Middle English version omits this detail.) Havelok grows to an extraordinary size and strength, and has a huge appetite; during a time of famine, Grim is unable to feed him, and Havelok leaves home to seek his subsistence in Lincoln, barefoot and clad in a cloak made from an old sail. In Lincoln he is taken in by Bertram, a cook in a noble household, and works for him as a kitchen-boy. Havelok's humility, gentleness and cheerful nature make him universally popular, especially with children, and his unusual height, strength and beauty draw attention wherever he goes. During a festival, Havelok takes part in a stone-throwing competition and far surpasses the efforts of the other young men with his near-superhuman strength. This victory makes him the subject of discussion and brings him to the notice of Godrich, who is present in Lincoln for a parliament. Godrich notices Havelok’s unusual height and decides to arrange a marriage between him and Goldburow, as this will fulfil the literal terms of his promise to Athelwold that Goldboruw should marry the 'highest' man in the kingdom; believing Havelok to be a peasant's son, he intends to deprive Goldboruw of her inheritance by the marriage. Havelok is reluctant to marry because he is too poor to support a wife, but he submits to the union after being threatened by Godrich. Havelok and Goldborow marry and return to Grimsby, where they are taken in by Grim’s children. That night Goldborow is awakened by a bright light and sees the flame coming out of Havelok’s mouth. She then notices his birthmark, and an angel-voice tells her of Havelok’s royal lineage and his destiny as king of Denmark and England. At the same time, Havelok has a dream in which he embraces the land and people of Denmark in his arms and presents the kingdom at Goldboruw's feet. When he wakes, they share their visions and agree to return to Denmark. Havelok sails to Denmark with Goldborow and Grim’s three eldest sons in order to reclaim his kingdom. Disguised as a merchant, Havelok is sheltered by Ubbe, a Danish nobleman. Ubbe is impressed by Havelok's strength in an attack on the house, and at night notices the light coming out of Havelok's mouth; he recognises Havelok as the son of Birkabein and immediately pledges his support to Havelok in overthrowing Godard. When Havelok has received the submission of many of the Danish lords amid great rejoicing, he defeats Godard and the usurper is condemned to be flayed and hanged. Havelok invades England, overthrows Godrich in battle and claims the throne in Goldborow's name. As king of Denmark and England, Havelok rules justly for more than sixty years. He and Goldborow enjoy a happy, loving marriage, and have fifteen children: all their sons become kings and all their daughters queens. 

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In November 1942, at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, Leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler selects Traudl Junge as his personal secretary. Three years later, the Red Army has pushed Germany's forces back and surrounded Berlin. On Hitler's 56th birthday, the Red Army begins shelling Berlin's city centre. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler tries to persuade Hitler to leave Berlin, but Hitler refuses. Himmler leaves to negotiate terms with the Western Allies in secret. Later, Himmler's adjutant Hermann Fegelein also attempts to persuade Hitler to flee, but Hitler insists that he will win or die in Berlin. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck is ordered to leave Berlin per Operation Clausewitz, though he persuades an SS general to let him stay in Berlin to treat the injured. In the streets, Hitler Youth child soldier Peter Kranz's father approaches his son's unit and tries to persuade him to leave. Peter, who destroyed two enemy tanks and will soon be awarded a medal by Hitler, calls his father a coward and runs away. At a meeting in the Führerbunker, Hitler forbids the outnumbered 9th Army to retreat, instead ordering SS commander Felix Steiner's units to mount a counter-attack. The generals find the orders impossible and irrational. Above ground, Hitler awards Peter his medal, hailing Peter as braver than his generals. In his office, Hitler talks to Minister of Armaments Albert Speer about his scorched earth policy. Speer is concerned about the destruction of Germany's infrastructure, but Hitler believes the German people left behind are weak and thus deserve death. Meanwhile, Hitler's companion Eva Braun holds a party in the Reich Chancellery. Fegelein tries persuading Eva, his sister-in-law, to leave Berlin with Hitler, but she dismisses him. Artillery fire eventually breaks up the party. On the battlefield, General Helmuth Weidling is informed he will be executed for allegedly ordering a retreat. Weidling comes to the Führerbunker to clear himself of his charges. His action impresses Hitler, who promotes him to oversee all of Berlin's defences. At another meeting, Hitler learns Steiner did not attack because his unit was too weak. Hitler becomes enraged at what he sees as an act of betrayal and launches into a furious tirade, stating that everyone has failed him and denouncing his generals as cowards and traitors, before finally acknowledging that the war is lost, but that he would rather commit suicide than leave Berlin. Schenck witnesses civilians being executed by German military police as supposed traitors. Hitler receives a message from Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, requesting state leadership. Hitler declares Göring a traitor, ordering his dismissal from all posts, arrest and execution. Speer makes a final visit to the Führerbunker, and admits to Hitler that he has defied his orders to destroy Germany's infrastructure. Hitler, however, does not punish Speer, who decides to leave Berlin. Peter's unit is defeated and he runs back to his parents. Hitler imagines more ways for Germany to turn the tide. At dinner, Hitler learns of Himmler's secret negotiations and orders his execution. He also finds out that Fegelein has deserted his post, having him executed despite Eva's pleas. SS physician Ernst-Robert Grawitz asks Hitler's permission to evacuate for fear of Allied reprisal. Hitler refuses, leading Grawitz to kill himself and his family. The Soviets continue their advance, Berlin's supplies run low, and German morale plummets. Hitler hopes that the 12th Army, led by Walther Wenck, will save Berlin. After midnight, Hitler dictates his last will and testament to Junge, before marrying Eva. The following morning, Hitler learns that the 12th Army is stuck and cannot relieve Berlin. Refusing surrender, Hitler plans his death. He administers poison to his dog Blondi, bids farewell to the bunker staff, and commits suicide with Eva. The two are cremated in the Chancellery garden. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels assumes the Chancellorship. General Hans Krebs fails to negotiate a conditional surrender with Soviet General Vasily Chuikov. Goebbels declares that Germany will not surrender as long as he is alive. Goebbels' wife Magda poisons her six children with cyanide, before committing suicide with Goebbels; Weidling announces unconditional surrender of German forces in Berlin afterwards. Many government and military officials commit suicide after learning of Germany's defeat, including Krebs. Peter discovers his parents were executed. Junge leaves the bunker and tries to flee the city; Peter joins her as she sneaks through a group of Soviet soldiers before the two find a bicycle and leave Berlin. 

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In the late 1980s, a group of dissident officials in the Soviet Union has grown afraid of losing power as relations improve with the United States. Hoping to oust the Soviet President, they steal a nuclear missile and launch it at the Soviet city of Donetsk from a site in NATO member Turkey. The Soviet automated defense systems, believing a NATO attack is in progress, execute a measured launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at the United States. As the stolen missile detonates over Donetsk and destroys the city, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) scrambles its forces. SAC Commander General Renning urges the president of the United States to authorize a full counterattack. The Soviet leader contacts his American counterpart, explaining the dissidents' actions. He asks the US to stand down, but he is willing to accept an American counterstrike if it is exactly equal to the Soviet's first strike, costing each side six to nine million people. If the United States launches an all-out attack, the Soviets will respond in kind, dooming the whole planet. The president and General Renning argue about the message from the Soviet leader until it appears that the Soviets have launched a second attack. The president authorizes a multi- part all-out attack, with American ICBMs launched immediately, then submarine- launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) in a few hours, coincident with the arrival of USAF bombers over the Soviet Union. General Renning issues the orders just before the first wave hits SAC headquarters, then quickly passes command of SAC to "Alice", the code name of a USAF General in command of "Looking Glass", a flying command aircraft for the Air Force and the Navy. The president is ushered to Marine One. As the helicopter lifts off, he learns that the second Soviet attack was not directed at the United States but rather at the People's Republic of China. This country has launched its own missiles at the Soviet Union, adding untold millions of deaths in those two countries. Realizing his mistake, the president tries to cancel his orders for the all- out nuclear retaliation, but before he can, a nearby nuclear detonation knocks his helicopter out of the sky. A B-52 bomber, callsign "Polar Bear 1", takes flight just minutes before an ICBM wipes out Fairchild Air Force Base. The bomber is commanded by male Major Cassidy and his female co-pilot Captain Moreau. The crewmen are shaken by the unfolding events, with Tyler struggling with the fact that his family was just killed at Fairchild. While flying, a nuclear warhead detonates close to "Polar Bear 1", the nuclear flash half blinds Moreau, and the ensuing shockwave throws a crewman into his instrument panel, breaking his neck and killing him. An American admiral, code named "Harpoon", is in command of Nightwatch, a flying command platform for the president. With the president presumed dead, they swear in the Secretary of the Interior (number eight on the succession list, per the novel) as the new president, code named "Condor". Harpoon informs Condor of the last communication from the Soviet President, the mistake regarding China, the matching damage already done by the initial retaliation with American ICBMs, and advises that the United States agree to the ceasefire. Colonel Fargo, a hawkish advisor on Nightwatch, who believes that the Soviets are playing a trick, advises Condor that the only path to victory is quick destruction of the Soviet Union. Polar Bear 1 is attacked by a trio of MiG-25s over Alaska. One is shot down by the B-52's rear machine guns. The crew then drop one of their nuclear bombs on one side of a mountain range, using the other side of the mountain to shield their plane from the blast, destroying the other two MiG-25s. Condor agrees with Col. Fargo's plan to move forward with a submarine missile and bomber attack. Harpoon disagrees, and he attempts to hide his nuclear authentication codes, but they are forcibly taken by Col. Fargo. Fargo and Condor contact Alice, giving the authentication codes and ordering him to execute the remainder of the attack plan. Alice advises against this course of action, but obeys his orders and begins to organize the bombers for the attack. The attack orders are received by Polar Bear 1. Moreau argues that their target will kill off all Soviet leadership, leaving nobody to "turn [the war] off". Cassidy hands her a suicide pill, but then he breaks down and begs her not to go. The crewmen agree to turn back, but Tyler, despondent over the loss of his family, displays increasingly erratic behavior with the news causing him to descend into full insanity. Tyler attacks Cassidy over the news and has to be restrained as a result. He later attempts to shoot the pilots for cowardice, then uses an ejection seat, blowing everyone but the two pilots out of the aircraft. The original president has survived the crash of Marine One, but he is seriously injured with both legs broken and he is also blind. A family gets him to a FEMA emergency shelter. By way of a FEMA communication system, he learns what Condor is doing, then manages to contact the Soviet President. The Soviets promise to stand off for one hour to see if the US Air Force will recall its bombers. On board Looking Glass, Alice notices that Polar Bear 1 has abandoned its attack run, and sees that the Soviets have turned one of their own bomber squadrons back in response. Alice begs Condor to view this as a sign that the Soviets are willing to call a ceasefire and asks for permission to recall all American bombers. Condor instead orders Alice to send US Navy carrier-based fighters to shoot down Polar Bear 1. When Alice hesitates, Fargo informs Condor that they can figure a way to send the launch commands from Nightwatch, at which point Condor dismisses Alice and cuts off communication with Looking Glass. The original president contacts Alice. He lost his authentication codes in the helicopter crash, but he calls Alice by his real name as proof of who he is. Alice and the staff of Looking Glass agree to follow the real president's orders and they order a recall of the bombers with the Soviets following suit. However, Alice lacks the authority to call off the submarine attack. Two American carrier-based F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Midway intercept the crippled Polar Bear 1, now flying low over the Pacific Ocean. As the fighters begin their attack runs, they receive word that their ship has been hit by a Soviet torpedo and it is sinking. Doomed to run out of fuel in the open ocean, they bid Polar Bear 1 good luck, unwilling to doom their fellow American pilots alongside them. The real president finally connects with Condor. Condor doubts it is him and Col. Fargo suggests that it is a Soviet impersonator. Condor states that the president he knew would want a military victory, and disconnects. Fearing the "president impersonator" might try to cancel the American SLBM launch, Condor orders the Nightwatch staff to find a way to connect to the US Navy submarines which they succeed in doing by linking to Soviet satellites. The Looking Glass staff and crewmen agree with Alice's decision to ram Looking Glass into Nightwatch, before Condor can send his launch orders. Looking Glass had been flying to rendezvous with Nightwatch for some time, and now makes all effort to close the remaining gap. Fargo realizes what Looking Glass is doing, so Condor orders his pilot to fly evasively until the launch orders can be transmitted. Realizing what Condor and Fargo plan to do, the pilots of Nightwatch sacrifice themselves, turning their aircraft into the path of the oncoming Looking Glass rather than allow Condor and Fargo to escalate the war. Once the two planes are destroyed, the real president successfully issues a message to stand down on the American attack. Having survived with low fuel in Polar Bear 1, Cassidy and Moreau are left wondering what happens next, but recognize that now there will be a future for everyone to figure it out. A title card states that "in the early months of 1990, during ethnic unrest in the southern part of the Soviet Union, insurgent units attacked a Soviet Army facility. Western intelligence received reliable reports that nuclear weapons on the premises were compromised." 

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Many of the Professor's perils result from simple absent-mindedness. In "The Screaming Clocks", he invents a clock that doesn't need winding up, but the omission of an important component ("I forgot to put a little wiggly thing in") means the clock doesn't stop at twelve but continues striking thirteen, fourteen and so forth until it can't keep up with itself. In "Burglars!", the Professor invents an automatic burglar catcher, but forgets his house key, tries to get in the window and is grabbed and trussed up by his own machine so thoroughly that even Mrs Flittersnoop fails to recognise him and bashes him over the head for good measure. Many of the troubles that the professor experiences are the result of his inventions' rebelling and showing anthropomorphic personalities. For instance, the phrase "No Branestawm invention was going to stand for that" occurs several times in the series. Branestawm inventions frequently object to anyone's using them in ways for which they were not designed. For instance, in a story about the Professor's making cuckoo clocks for all his friends, a fight broke out between the clocks, resulting in the destruction of all of them. 

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The story follows a man of "a noble descent" who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his profligate past, he does not accept full blame for his actions, saying that "man was never thus ... tempted before". After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which is spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England". Wilson and his "double" at the carnival in an illustration by Byam Shaw for a London edition dated 1909 William meets another boy in his school who has the same name and roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on the same date (January 19, Poe's own birthday). William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") embarrasses him because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and he is irked that he must hear the name twice as much on account of the other William. The boy also dresses like William, walks like him, but can only speak in a whisper. He begins to give advice to William of an unspecified nature, which he refuses to obey, resenting the boy's "arrogance". One night he steals into the other William's bedroom and recoils in horror at the boy's face—which now resembles his own. William then immediately leaves the academy and, in the same week, the other boy follows suit. William eventually attends Eton and Oxford, gradually becoming more debauched and performing what he terms "mischief". For example, he steals from a man by cheating at cards. The other William appears, his face covered, and whispers a few words sufficient to alert others to William's behavior, and then leaves with no others seeing his face. William is haunted by his double in subsequent years, who thwarts plans described by William as driven by ambition, anger and lust. In one caper, he attempts to seduce a married woman at Carnival in Rome, but the other William stops him. The enraged protagonist drags his "unresisting" double—who wears identical clothes— into an antechamber, and, after a brief sword fight in which the double participates only reluctantly, stabs him fatally. After William does this, a large mirror suddenly seems to appear. Reflected at him, he sees "mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood": apparently the dead double, "but he spoke no longer in a whisper". The narrator feels as if he is pronouncing the words: "In me didst thou exist—and in my death, see ... how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." 

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In an apartment somewhere in Sweden, a woman, a man and his friend are recording an amateur porn movie, while the one man's teenage son is trying to stay out of their way in his room. As time progresses, their filming gets out of hand. All the while, the father is concerned that his son has no respect for him, and the son is concerned about how his father treats the woman. 

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The story revolves around Shirou Emiya, a hardworking and honest teenager who unwillingly enters a to-the-death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War, where combatants fight with magic and Heroes throughout history for a chance to have their wishes granted. Orphaned and the sole survivor of a massive fire in Fuyuki City as a child, Shirou was taken in by a retired mage named Kiritsugu Emiya, who would die years later. His responsibility to those who died and his salvation through his father formed a strong desire for justice and peace in him. Thus, he earnestly trains his body and minuscule ability with magic to someday greatly help others, even if at his stage people often abuse his generosity. One evening, after seeing two devastatingly powerful beings trading blows at his school with swords and spears, he is attacked, as witnesses to the Holy Grail War are generally supposed to be eliminated. Chased to his home by the spear-wielding warrior Lancer, and barely able to avoid his attacks, Shirou is about to be killed when he is saved by Saber. Saber, the personification of a renowned figure in history (Arturia Pendragon in her case) was created to aid participants in the War. In her supposedly accidental summoning and the appearance of the marks on Shirou's hand, his entry as a Master into the Holy Grail War is formalized. 

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Tarquin "Quinn" Blackwood, heir to a powerful old family in New Orleans, has been plagued by a mysterious spirit named Goblin for his entire life. Made a vampire in his youth, Quinn seeks out Lestat de Lioncourt looking for help in getting rid of Goblin, who has become more and more malevolent. Quinn recalls his youth, his family, and his forced transformation into a vampire by Petronia. His stories allow Lestat to better understand the reach and power of Goblin, and clue in Lestat to the fact that Quinn is connected to the Mayfair family of witches. After his own failure defeating Goblin, Lestat asks the witch Merrick Mayfair, also a vampire, for assistance. Meanwhile, Quinn has fallen in love with heiress Mona Mayfair, and the ghost of their mutual ancestor Julien Mayfair warns him against making Mona a vampire. Goblin is revealed to be the spirit of Quinn's twin Gawain, who died days after being born. He is bound to Quinn, and is relentlessly jealous to experience whatever Quinn does. Merrick performs a ritual using Gawain's corpse to exorcise Goblin. She sacrifices herself by carrying the child's spirit into the hereafter with her, and Lestat is heartbroken. 

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The show follows the adventures of Professor Ian Hood (originally Alan Hood), played by Patrick Stewart, a Special Advisor to the government's Joint Sciences Committee, who troubleshoots threats stemming from or targeting "scientific endeavour." He is joined by Rachel Young, played by Ashley Jensen, a Special Branch operative who acts primarily as his bodyguard, as Hood has made powerful enemies through his work. The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006.https://itvstudios.com/programmes/eleventh-hour--2 

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Hercule Poirot takes a quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon. He finds that the other hotel guests include: Arlena Marshall, her husband Kenneth, and her step-daughter Linda; Horace Blatt; Major Barry, a retired officer; Rosamund Darnley, a former sweetheart of Kenneth; Patrick Redfern, and his wife Christine, a former teacher; Carrie Gardener, and her husband Odell; Reverend Stephen Lane; and Miss Emily Brewster, an athletic spinster. During the initial part of his stay, Poirot notes that Arlena is a flirtatious woman, who flirts with Patrick much to the fury of his wife, and that her step-daughter hates her. One morning, Arlena heads out for a secret rendezvous at Pixy Cove. By midday, she is found dead by Patrick and Brewster while they are rowing. An examination by the local police surgeon reveals she had been strangled by a man. Both Poirot and the investigating officer, Inspector Colgate, interview the possible suspects about their movements during the morning – Kenneth had been typing letters; the Gardeners had been with Poirot all morning; Rosamund had been reading above Pixy Cove; Blatt had gone sailing; Linda and Christine went to Gull Cove and didn't return until before midday; and both Lane and Major Barry were absent from the island. At noon, Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Odell all met to play tennis. Poirot learns that Brewster was nearly hit by a bottle during the morning, thrown from one of the guest rooms, while the hotel chambermaid recalls hearing someone running a bath at noon. At a cave within Pixy Cove, Poirot notes smelling perfume that Arlena used within a cave, while police arrest Blatt for smuggling heroin upon finding the drug hidden inside. Poirot later invites everyone to a picnic, which he uses to secretly observe their behaviour and test their vertigo. Following the picnic, Linda attempts suicide with Christine's sleeping pills. Poirot later discovers she felt guilt-ridden, after assuming she killed her step-mother through voodoo. Via a request for similar cases to the current one, Poirot receives details on the strangulation of Alice Corrigan from Surrey police – her body was found by a local teacher, while her husband Edward had an alibi. Poirot is supplied with a photo of both people. Bringing together the suspects, Poirot denounces Patrick and Christine Redfern for Arlena's murder. She had been murdered to prevent her husband learning that she had been conned into investing a large inheritance towards "fabulous opportunities". The murder was well-planned to falsify the time of death. While Christine was with Linda, she set Linda's watch forward twenty minutes, asked for the time to set her alibi, then returned the watch to the correct time. Afterwards, Christine returned to her room and applied fake suntan makeup, which she concealed from sight, before tossing the bottle out the window. Sneaking out to Pixy Cove, Christine made certain Arlena saw her; Patrick had instructed Arlena to hide should his wife turn up before their rendezvous. Once Arlena was gone, Christine impersonated the dead body to fool Brewster, and once he had left to get help while Patrick remained behind, Christine rushed back to the hotel to remove the makeup. Patrick then called out an unsuspecting Arlena and strangled her. Poirot reveals that Christine lied about having a fear of heights, as she managed to traverse a suspended bridge during the picnic, and foolishly threw out the bottle of makeup from her room when Brewster was present outside. Linda's attempt at suicide was provoked by her. As further proof, Poirot reveals that the murder of Alice Corrigan happened in the same manner – the photo from Surrey Police identified Patrick as Edward Corrigan, who killed her, and Christine as the teacher who found the "body", before the murder had been committed. Poirot goads Patrick into a near-violent fury to expose himself, despite his wife trying to keep him quiet. With the case closed, Poirot tells Linda she did not kill Arlena and predicts she will not hate her next "step-mother", whereupon Kenneth and Rosamund rekindle their old love. 

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The plot of Viewtiful Joe 2 continues immediately from the ending of the previous game. Having just saved Movieland, Viewtiful Joe and his girlfriend (and new partner) Sexy Silvia learn from Captain Blue that the world will be threatened twice more. Joe and Silvia leave Captain Blue's space station to attend to an alien invasion from the forces of Gedow. The leader of Gedow, the Black Emperor, suddenly attacks Captain Blue and turns him into a statue called a "Rainbow Oscar", one of seven in a set that represents Movieland's power of the happy ending. With their power, the Black Emperor intends to conquer Movieland. Cast off to "the fringes" of Movieland by Gedow, Joe and Silvia fight their way through a prehistoric film and defeat the Tyrannosaurus rex soldier, Big John. Joe and Silvia obtain a Rainbow Oscar from Big John just as Joe's father Jet arrives in the theater and demands that they come back to the real world and clean up the mess they made. Silvia manages to convince Jet to help them rescue Captain Blue, and Jet agrees by setting up new films for her and Joe to journey through in search of the Rainbow Oscars. Joe and Silvia continue their battle against Gedow through an adventure film in an ancient temple, where a narcoleptic golem named Flinty Stone guards the second Rainbow Oscar, and then journey into a futuristic film where Gedow's top scientist Dr. Cranken and his creation Cameo Leon reveal the Black Emperor's plan to combine the Oscars with an evil reel of celluloid called the Black Film. Later, Joe's rival Alastor interferes during a samurai movie and tries to steal the spotlight. Jet changes films after Alastor is defeated, but unwittingly puts on the Black Film and sends its evil into Movieland, which also transforms Alastor into a murderous beast. After Joe defeats Alastor a second time, Jet destroys the Black Film. With four Rainbow Oscars, Joe and Silvia are sent to a movie that takes place in the frozen mountains, where Frost Tiger (brother of Fire Leo, a boss from the previous game) protects the fifth Oscar and demands that Joe prove his inner strength in order to be worthy of it. Though successful, Joe's victory is short-lived when he is fooled by an impostor Silvia into giving Gedow the Oscars. Faced with his disastrous mistake, Joe and Silvia return to the original Captain Blue movie where they encounter Dr. Cranken again. The mad scientist reveals the impostor Silvia as Miss Bloody Rachel, a shapeshifting android programmed to destroy the heroes. As Rachel transforms into the previous bosses to fight back, Joe and Silvia attempt to reason with her by introducing the concept of a heart to her programming. Slowly, Rachel begins to understand and eventually chooses to side with the heroes. After Joe and Silvia finish off Dr. Cranken for good, Rachel gives them the sixth Rainbow Oscar. The final movie, a science-fiction film set in deep space, is where the Black Emperor and the last Rainbow Oscar reside. When confronted by the heroes, the Black Emperor throws a fully restored Black Film onto the projector and uses its added power to summon his giant robot Dark Kaiser. Joe and Silvia summon their own "Six x Six Majin" to destroy Dark Kaiser and recover the last Oscar, but Jet suddenly appears in the movie and steals all seven. Revealing a Black V-Watch on his wrist, Jet transforms into the Dark Emperor and thanks Joe for giving him the Oscars, then infuses their power into himself to become Jet Black, the Dark Hero. Now able to use his Movieland powers in the real world, Jet Black crashes the Viewtiful Awards Ceremony, leaving Joe and Silvia powerless to stop him. As they put up a futile effort to fight back, the crowd starts cheering for Joe and Silvia, which gives them the power to transform and ultimately defeat Jet Black. Captain Blue is restored to normal and reveals that Jet was his best friend and cinematographer, but had found the Black Film one day and became entranced by its power and that of the Rainbow Oscars. In the end, it is revealed that all Jet really wanted was to prove himself as a hero to his own son Joe. As Joe and Jet reconcile, a dark castle appears in the distance, heralding the arrival of Captain Blue's last foreseen threat. Jet explains that the secret of the Black Film and his Black V-Watch lies within the castle, as well as an enemy unlike any other. Undeterred by Jet's ominous warning, Viewtiful Joe and Sexy Silvia strike a pose as they set out to save the world once more. 

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The series follows former priest John Strange, dismissed from the clergy under mysterious circumstances. He was implicated in a number of gruesome murders, murders that he says were done by demons. Now he seeks those responsible and to clear his name. To help him in his hunt for demons, John has Toby, a technological expert who is in charge of the equipment John uses to sense the presence of demons, and Kevin. Kevin has Down's syndrome, which appears to enable him to sense the presence of demons and is often an early warning that something supernatural is about to happen in the area. Jude, a former scientist who works as a nurse, is interested because she found out that her partner Rich was a demon. With Rich dead, her main concern is that the son they had together, Joey, could also be a demon. John's mission is hampered by Canon Black, who is intent on denying the presence of dark forces. The demons in Strange include non-human and near human forms. Near human demons are distinguishable by their inhuman eye colouring which varies from blood red, silver or gold. These demons are capable of concealing their eye colour with a sort of nictitating membrane which makes the eyes appear human. They are capable of interbreeding with humans and many such demons have assimilated themselves into human society to cover their activities. Non-human demons live on the fringes of society or hibernate in isolated areas. They reputedly have long lifespans, and can only be killed through special methods. When a demon dies its body will explode in a ball of flame. 

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Hurlyburly depicts the intersecting lives of several low-to-mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by large quantities of drugs, they attempt to find meaning in their isolated, empty lives. 

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The peaceful Morris family moves to a small town and buy the town grocery store, only to run into the Cullens, a family that's been bullying the townspeople for years, and they begin to torment the Morrises every chance they get. Matt Morris (Jonathan Crombie) begins seeing a girl named Becky (Olivia d'Abo), whose last name is unfortunately Cullen. In this Romeo and Juliet-esque relationship, Matt and Becky have to keep their relationship a secret, but when the feuding families find out, harassment is elevated to vicious assault. Gag balls and phallic shaped items are shoved in various orifices of the family including the navel, nostril, ear and sphincter. Rudy Huxtable makes an appearance as a used street walker strung out on Jello pudding. 

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Devil Hunter Yohko is about a boy-crazy sixteen-year-old girl named Yohko Mano who banishes demons from the Earth. Yohko is voiced by Aya Hisakawa in the original Japanese dialogue. In the English dubbed version she is portrayed by Amanda Winn-Lee. For centuries, the Mano family has been slaying demons. Yohko's grandmother, Madoka, is the 107th Devil Hunter, and Yohko's mother, Sayoko, would have been the 108th, but for a small hitch: A Devil Hunter must be a virgin to take on the power and responsibility. Sayoko became pregnant before Madoka could reveal the family's secrets, and so the job fell to Yohko Mano, Sayoko's daughter, who is placed as the 108th Devil Hunter. Now as a Devil Hunter, Yohko must face off against demons while trying to live her life as a boy-crazy schoolgirl. 

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Each episode found the Pussycats and crew en route to perform a gig or record a song in some exotic location where, somehow, often due to something Alexandra did, they became mixed up in an adventure. The antagonist was always a diabolical mad scientist, spy, or criminal who wanted to take over the world using some high- tech device. The Pussycats usually found themselves in possession of the plans for an invention, an item of interest to the villains, a secret spy message, etc., and the villains chased them to retrieve it. Eventually, the Pussycats would ruin the villain's plans, resulting in a final chase sequence set to a Pussycats song. With the villain captured, the Pussycats would return to their gig or recording session, and the final gag was always one of Alexandra's failed attempts to interfere with the Pussycats' performance or steal Alan away from Josie. 

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In Southport, Maryland, Susan Morrison (Teri Polo), recently divorced from her husband Frank (John Travolta) who is a struggling boat builder, is marrying a younger and wealthier Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn). Danny (Matt O'Leary), Susan and Frank's twelve-year-old son, is clearly unhappy that his mother is remarrying. Susan asks Frank to allow Rick to go sailing with him and Danny, to help Danny bond with and accept Rick as a stepfather. After the wedding and a brief improvement in Danny's and Rick's relationship, Danny dislikes Rick once again. During a game of catch between the two, Rick clearly becomes agitated with Danny's ambivalent playing style and starts criticizing him harshly. The revelation that Susan and Rick are having a baby worsens the situation. After finding out about the baby, Danny stows away in Rick's Chevy Suburban, planning to drop off it en route and visit his father. But while Danny is inside, he sees Rick murdering mysterious stranger Ray Coleman (Steve Buscemi), who earlier attended the wedding unannounced, claiming to be an ex-business associate of Rick. Danny reports the murder to his father and to the local police. Rick, however, has managed to dispose of most of the evidence, and is widely considered a pillar of the local community as he invested his money in the area, whereas Danny has a history of lying and misdemeanors. Frank believes his son, though, stemming from Rick's notable unease around Coleman at the ceremony and the fact that Danny never lies to him. Frank does some investigating of his own and unearths Rick's criminal past, which now stands to put his son and ex-wife at risk. Frank learns that Rick's real name is Jack Parnell and that he is a criminal who was acquitted while his partners, which included Coleman, were convicted. Jack tries to kill Frank by setting his boathouse on fire, but Frank manages to escape. Susan realizes the truth when she sees a large burn on Jack's arm, having heard about the fire at the boathouse hours earlier. She tries to escape with Danny but Jack knocks her out and takes Danny as a hostage. Frank arrives to confront Jack, as he tries to flee. Jack and Frank fight, and Jack is killed when a tied-up Danny pushes him to a fuse box, electrocuting him. Susan has no serious physical injury from the conflict, aside from suffering a miscarriage. 

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In a hospital room, Cordelia jolts out of her coma after experiencing a vision of the symbols painted on Eve's apartment door and tattooed on Lindsey's (Christian Kane) chest. Angel elaborates on his decision to resign from his position of CEO of Wolfram & Hart's L.A. office, saying instead of ridding the world of evil, they are now negotiating with, or for, evil. As Gunn argues that quitting may incur dire consequences, he is interrupted by a phone call from the hospital, with the news that Cordelia has awoken from her coma. Angel and Wesley arrive at Cordelia's hospital room and see a woman's body lying in bed, partially covered by drapes (head not visible), who they assume is Cordelia. When Angel calls out her name, Cordelia suddenly appears from the opposite side of the room saying, "Yep, that chick's in rough shape. You'd think they'd give Miss One-Foot-in-the-Grave her own room." She then closes the drapes. Back at Wolfram & Hart, Cordelia asks after Connor, which surprises Angel, who thought he was the only one to remember his son. Cordy later reveals the vision that woke her from the coma showed Angel in grave danger. Eve enters, despite being banned, saying Angel has no control over the liaison for the Senior Partners. Meanwhile, Spike complains to Lindsey (who is impersonating Doyle) that the deranged slayer Lindsey/Doyle sent him after ended up chopping off his hands. Lindsey/Doyle reveals he also had one of his hands cut off. Angel finds Cordelia watching an Angel Investigations commercial Doyle (Glenn Quinn) recorded more than four years earlier, shortly before his death and she notes Doyle gave his life to guarantee that Angel kept fighting. She subtly quotes Doyle's final words about the fight against evil: "I get that now." Cordelia accuses Angel of letting Wolfram & Hart seduce him with glamor and power, but Angel says he took the job only so his son Connor could have a happy, stable life. Later, Cordelia apologizes to Wesley (Alexis Denisof) for killing Lilah while under Jasmine's control. She finds the strange symbols from her vision in a book, and Wesley recognizes them as runes to protect and conceal, effective against modern surveillance. In the basement of W&H;, Lindsey (invisible to the guards monitoring the video screens) passes into a restricted area. He uses a crystal as a key, allowing an underground tank to rise. Spike bites Cordelia until Angel fights him off. Spike explains he was tasting whether she was evil, as his source claimed. Angel questions the source, and Spike says it was "Doyle", the tattooed man who gets visions from the Powers That Be. Angel confronts Eve, suggesting she is working with the Doyle impersonator who has been manipulating Spike. Harmony says, being "technically evil", she doesn't mind torturing Eve, after which Eve quickly confesses Lindsey is activating a fail-safe left by the Senior Partners specifically designed to destroy Angel. When Spike unwittingly mentions "Doyle" had a hand chopped off, Angel deduces that "Doyle" is in fact former W&H; crony Lindsey McDonald. Wesley says he and Fred will perform a spell to counter-act Lindsey's tattoos, while the others attempt to disable the fail-safe. In the rooms below, Angel battles Lindsey, who is wreathed in protective strength from his tattooed runes. Cordelia throws Angel a katana; while Angel and Lindsey sword-fight she removes the crystal from the control panel, causing the fail-safe to descend into the floor. Wesley and Fred perform a spell that causes Lindsey's tattoos to float off of his body, leaving him unprotected from detection by the Senior Partners. Lindsey is sucked upwards into a portal. Upstairs, Angel is left alone with Cordelia, who confesses that the Powers That Be owed her one. Angel says he doesn't understand and she said she got what she wanted. Cordelia tells Angel that she is now on a different path and must leave. She heads out the door but then runs back to Angel, and they kiss passionately. This was their first real kiss, though they did kiss while under a mystical influence in the third season "Waiting in the Wings." A ringing telephone interrupts, and as Angel picks up the receiver after Cordelia sadly tells him he needs to, Cordelia says, "Oh, and you're welcome." The voice on the phone says that Cordelia has died. Angel's office is suddenly empty; Cordelia has vanished. Angel realizes Cordelia never awoke from her coma. He hangs up the telephone and says, "Thank you." 

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While multi- millionaire Tom Mullen and his wife Kate attend a science fair, their son Sean is kidnapped. Sean is taken to an apartment by Maris Conner, a caterer for the Mullens, along with brothers Clark and Cubby Barnes, and Miles Roberts, and Detective Jimmy Shaker, Maris' boyfriend and the mastermind behind the kidnapping. Tom and Kate receive an e-mail from the kidnappers demanding $2,000,000. Tom calls the FBI, who begin operating from his New York City penthouse under Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins. In private, Tom voices his belief that a union machinist, Jackie Brown, who is in prison following one of Mullen's business scandals, may have been behind it. They visit Brown in prison, but he angrily denies any involvement with the kidnapping. Tom agrees to the FBI's instructions for delivering the ransom. Receiving a phone call from Shaker, who is electronically disguising his voice, Tom follows his instructions. He meets Cubby in a New Jersey quarry but refuses to hand the money over when Cubby fails to give him the directions Shaker had promised him. A fight ensues and the FBI intervene and shoot Cubby. He dies before he can reveal Sean's location. Shaker later arranges another drop off. While Tom initially agrees to take the money alone, he realizes there is no guarantee Sean will be returned alive and instead appears on television to offer the ransom as a bounty on the kidnappers' heads, promising to withdraw the bounty and drop all charges if the kidnappers return his son alive and unharmed. Despite the pleadings of Kate and Agent Hawkins, Tom sticks to his plan, believing it is the best chance of having Sean returned. Shaker lures Kate to a meeting where he tells her to pay the ransom or Sean will die before ditching Sean's blood stained t-shirt. Tom responds by increasing the bounty to $4,000,000. Shaker calls Tom and demands to be paid, but Tom still refuses, and Shaker fires a gunshot after Tom hears Sean scream for help, leading Tom and Kate to believe their son is dead. Clark and Miles attempt to abandon the plan and flee, but Shaker calls in the NYPD to request backup and kills both of his men while making it look like Miles shot first, and kills Maris after she shoots him in the arm from behind. The NYPD arrive and find Shaker with Sean, believing Shaker found and rescued the boy. Hawkins informs Tom and Kate and they are reunited with their son while Shaker is hospitalized. Tom also recognizes Maris. Shaker later pays Tom a visit to claim the reward and leave the country before investigators discover his connection with Maris. Tom and Sean, however, recognize Shaker as the kidnapper, and Shaker realizes this. Though his initial plan is to kill everyone in the apartment, Tom persuades him to accompany him to the bank to gain the money and leave peacefully. On the way, however, Tom discreetly alerts Hawkins and the police and FBI converge on Tom and Shaker outside the bank. As soon as Tom and Shaker exit the bank, two officers (who greeted Shaker and Tom before entering the bank) inform Shaker that he is going to be detained, causing Shaker to go berserk and shoot them down, before Tom knocks him to the ground, after which a chase ensues in which Tom and Shaker grapple furiously before falling through a shop window, severely injuring both and impaling Shaker through the neck. Tom picks up a hidden pistol (that Shaker pulled out during the scuffle) and points at Shaker before Hawkins and other police officers keep demanding that he drop the gun and walk away. In desperation, Shaker draws another hidden gun, but is shot dead by Tom and Hawkins. Tom finally drops the gun and police rush in to arrest Tom, but Hawkins tells them to hold as it was self-defense, allowing Tom and Kate to leave the scene. 

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After years of pursuing Cullen Crisp, an infamous drug dealer, LAPD detective John Kimble arrests him for murder; a witness saw him murder an informant after getting information regarding the whereabouts of his ex-wife, Rachel, who allegedly stole millions of dollars from him before fleeing with his son. Partnered with former teacher-turned-detective Phoebe, Kimble goes undercover in Astoria, Oregon to find Rachel and offer her immunity in exchange for testifying against Crisp in court. To this end, Phoebe must act as a substitute teacher in Cullen Jr's kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School. Phoebe gets a terrible case of stomach flu, falling ill at the last moment, so Kimble takes her place. The suspicious school principal, Miss Schlowski, is convinced he will not last long before quitting. Though initially overwhelmed, he adapts to his new status quickly, despite not having any formal teaching experience. With the use of his pet ferret as a class mascot, positive reinforcement, his police training as a model for structure in class and his experience as a father, he becomes a much admired and cherished figure to the students. Kimble begins to enjoy his undercover role. At one point, he deals with a case of child abuse by assaulting and threatening the father of the abused child, winning Miss Schlowski's favor. In observation of his teaching style, she assures him that even though she does not agree with his methods, she can see that he is a good teacher. Kimble also becomes fond of Joyce, a fellow teacher whose son Dominic is one of his students. She is estranged from her husband and will not speak of him, telling Dominic that he lives in France. Conversing with the gradually more trusting Joyce, Kimble deduces that she is Rachel and that Dominic is Cullen Jr. Back in California, the case holding Crisp in jail is closed after the witness dies from using tainted cocaine provided by Crisp's mother, Eleanor. He is subsequently released from prison, and quickly travels to Astoria with Eleanor to search for Cullen Jr. When Kimble learns Crisp has been released, he confronts Rachel about her identity, saying he can protect her if she cooperates. Outraged that he misled her, she tells him that Crisp lied about her stealing the money to convince drug dealers to help him find her; the real reason was to find his son, as he was angry that Rachel disappeared with him. Crisp starts a fire in the library as a distraction to kidnap his son, but uses him as a hostage when Kimble arrives. Kimble's ferret, who was hiding in Cullen Jr's shirt, bites Crisp in the neck, allowing Cullen Jr to escape; Crisp shoots Kimble in the leg and then Kimble fatally shoots him in return. Outside, Eleanor injures Phoebe with her car before going inside and discovering Crisp dead; she wounds Kimble in the shoulder, but Phoebe appears and knocks her unconscious with a baseball bat. Eleanor is then arrested and the unconscious Kimble is hospitalized with Phoebe, with both of them making a full recovery. Phoebe returns to the police force in Los Angeles, while Kimble decides to retire, staying in Astoria to become a kindergarten teacher at the school full-time. Rachel joins him and the two share a kiss while everyone cheers. 

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The movie picks up with the now married Mollie (Kristie Alley) and James (John Travolta) preparing for the birth of a new baby girl (voice of Roseanne Barr), while teaching Mikey (voice of Bruce Willis) how to use the potty. Meanwhile, James is working diligently to bring in more income for the family. Mikey looks forward to meeting his sibling as well as being a responsible big brother. When the baby is about to be born, her umbilical cord gets caught around her neck, putting her in distress. Given the name "Julie", she is born through a c-section and is taken to the nursery area for observation. When Julie meets Mikey, she is unimpressed. Mikey, on the other hand, quickly begins to resent his sister when his dreams of being a responsible big brother don't match the reality. Meanwhile, Mollie's slacker right-wing younger brother, Stuart (Elias Koteas), comes to stay, to whom James takes an immediate dislike. This, combined with James being pressured into taking a demanding piloting job arranged by Mollie's parents and his belief that Mollie is too protective of Mikey, causes several arguments between the pair which eventually lead to James leaving. Mikey is upset about this and, believing he has left because of Julie, tears up one of his sister's stuffed animals. James occasionally hangs out with his kids (including scamming their way into a movie theater) and has fun with them. Following a burglary, Mollie's best friend Rona (Twink Caplan) moves in with her and she soon starts dating Stuart. Following the 'death' of her beloved stuffed penguin (whom she named Herbie), Julie decides to learn to walk and leave. Later, Julie manages to walk to the sofa without support. Mollie sees this and is initially excited but then saddened that James isn't there to share the moment. As he watches Julie sleep one night, Mikey realizes how badly he's treated her and resolves to change his ways. Mollie decides to win James back and dresses sexily for him, but he isn't interested. As the two bicker, Mikey uses the toilet for the first time and calls his parents, who are immensely proud of him and share a tender moment. One night as James prepares to fly, Mollie watches the news and learns that storms are all around the area. She goes to get James before he takes off, leaving Stuart with Mikey and Julie. She catches him and tries to persuade him not to take off, just as the control tower cancels the flight. The two then make up. Meanwhile, a burglar (presumably the same one who also robbed Rona) breaks in and runs when Stuart comes in with his unloaded gun. Stuart pursues him having forgotten about the kids and completely oblivious to the fact that he left paper on a hot stove which quickly causes a fire to start. Mikey doesn't panic and takes charge, pushing Julie out of the apartment to safety. Stuart and the burglar run into James who subdues the thief. Mollie and James soon find out the kids were left alone and spot the fire in the apartment, only for Mikey and Julie to emerge from the elevator as the two prepare to head in to save them. James then puts out the fire before it can cause too much damage. The next day, James, Mollie, Stuart, Rona, and Mollie's parents attend a barbecue. There, Julie asks Mikey why he saved her when they're always fighting. Mikey tells her that for as much as they get on each other's nerves, they're the kids and should stick together since the grown ups never make any sense to them. The two then walk off hand in hand. 

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Guy Holden, an American writer traveling in England, falls madly in love with a woman named Mimi, who disappears after their first encounter. To take his mind off his lost love, his friend Teddy Egbert, a British attorney, takes him to Brighton, where Egbert has arranged for a "paid co-respondent" to assist his client in obtaining a divorce from her boring, aging, geologist husband Robert. What Holden does not know is that the client is none other than Mimi, who in turn mistakes him — because he is too ashamed of his occupation to say what it is, namely pseudonymously writing cheap "bodice ripper" romance novels — for the paid co-respondent. At the end, when her husband appears, he is unconvinced by the faked adultery—but is then unwittingly revealed, by the waiter at the resort, to have been genuinely adulterous himself. 

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It is the first day of school and the kids wait on the school steps with long faces and pouted lips. Worried about the new teacher they'll be getting this term, Spanky and Alfalfa come up with a scheme to get themselves excused from school: Spanky has Alfalfa pretend he has a toothache, going as far as to stuff a balloon in his mouth to sell the idea. Unknown to the kids, however, the new school teacher, Miss Lawrence, has overheard Spanky and Alfalfa's scheming and has ordered ice cream as a first-day surprise for the class. She sees right through Alfalfa's fibs about being too sick to sing "Good Morning to You" with the rest of the class, and knowingly grants him an excuse to go home (and Spanky an excuse to take him home). The two boys' triumph backfires when they see the ice cream man as he makes his delivery to the rest of their class. Now needing to find a way to get back into school, Spanky pops the balloon in Alfalfa's mouth, and explains to Miss Lawrence, "Funny thing, teacher; he's all well now". Miss Lawrence agrees to let the boys back in for the ice cream party, but only if Alfalfa will make up for not singing "Good Morning" by rendering another song. However, Alfalfa has accidentally swallowed the stopper from the balloon that constituted his "toothache", so as he steps in front of the class to sing '"Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms'", a strange wheeze accompanies every breath he takes between lines. At the conclusion of his song, Spanky and Alfalfa go to get their ice cream only to find that it has melted, but the kind and clever Miss Lawrence hands the boys two fresh ice cream bars. 

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Bless This House centres on life in Howard Road, New Malden, where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott (note: the spelling of their surname varies; the opening credits of early series one episodes spell it "Abbot" while in the closing credits it is spelt "Abbott") and his wife Jean live with their teenagers: Mike is fresh from art college and more pre-occupied with protests than finding a job; and trendy schoolgirl Sally. Sally is 16 at the series' start, and Mike is 18. Sid and Jean constantly battle to comprehend the new generation's permissive ways and are usually out-of-touch. Their neighbours and best friends are Trevor and his wife Betty. 

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The series re-imagines the comic books' main characters (Martin Mystery and Diana Lombard) as 16-year-old step- siblings attending Torrington Academy, a high school located in the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec. They work for a covert organization known as "The Center," which covertly protects the people of Earth from supernatural threats. Their allies at The Center include Billy (a small, green-skinned alien), who is one of Martin's best friends, and Java (a caveman from 200,000 years ago), who works as a janitor at Torrington Academy. Martin's vast knowledge of the supernatural and his remarkable intuition make him a valued agent of The Center, and compensate for his huge ego and poor personal hygiene. Diana resents these flaws at times, as Martin often does not seem to understand the seriousness of his missions, but generally loves him like any sister. 

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The plot centres on retrieving items from a Type XXI U-boat sunk off the Portuguese coast in the last days of World War II. Initially, the items are forged British and American currency, for financing a revolution in Portugal on the cheap. Later, it switches to heroin (the "Horse" of the title), and eventually it is revealed that the true interest is in the "Weiss list" - a list of Britons prepared to help the Third Reich set up a puppet government in Britain, should Germany prevail. Thrown into the mix is secret "ice melting" technology, which could be vital to the missile submarines then beginning to hide under the Arctic sea ice. 

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The voidhawk Oenone reaches Jupiter and docks with one of the 4,250 habitats orbiting the planet. Whilst medical assistance and trauma counselling begin to help heal Syrinx, the information from Laton and the events on Atlantis is transmitted to the Jovian Consensus. As they become aware of the scale of the crisis, the Edenists immediately switch their economy to a war footing, rendering Jupiter space impregnable to attack. They also develop personality-query systems which should render all Edenists, voidhawks and habitats immune to possession. They detach a quarter of the voidhawk fleet and assign it to reinforce the Confederation Navy. Admiral Aleksandrovich summons an emergency session of the Confederation Assembly on its meeting world of Avon. On Avon the Confederation Assembly is stunned to learn of the threat from the possessed. The Confederation Navy shuts down all interstellar flights to contain the threat and goes to its highest state of alert. In a startling move, the Tyrathca immediately cut themselves off from all contact with humanity for the duration of the crisis. The Kiint ambassador reveals that, many thousands of years ago, they also suffered a 'possession crisis', as the secret of death is one that is eventually discovered by all sentient races. They claim that their solution to the crisis is not applicable to humanity, who must find their own way. Alkad Mzu departs from the blackhawk Udat, leaving behind a virus in its jump system which causes the destruction of Udat whilst making a wormhole transit. She does this both to protect knowledge of her whereabouts and also as revenge: Udat was one of the blackhawks which crippled the Beezling just before the Garissan Genocide. On the planet Norfolk, the possessed succeed in over-running most of the planet. Louise Kavanagh's father, Grant, is possessed and gives up his home estate to forces loyal to Quinn Dexter. However, Dexter's attempts to have Louise and her sister Genevieve possessed are thwarted by another possessed, who assists Louise and Genevieve in reaching the nearest aerodrome. He reveals his name – Fletcher Christian – and vows to protect them from those who mean them harm. He bemoans the lack of chivalry and honour among his fellow returnees. They flee to the capital, which is in danger of falling, and briefly find refuge with Louise's cousins, the Hewsons. One of the cousins, Roberto, attempts to rape Louise, but fortunately is thwarted. After this, with her parents declared missing, Louise takes control of the Kavanagh fortune and is able to use this to book passage on a starship fleeing the system for Earth. They end up on a ship owned by SII (Mars' national company) and eventually reach High York, an asteroid in the O'Neill Halo in orbit above Earth. Christian's true nature is detected and he, Louise and Genevieve are all arrested. On Ombey Ralph Hiltch assists the local police and military in tracking down the possessed from Lalonde. Princess Kirsten authorises the use of lethal force and, in a move which establishes a precedent across the Confederation, the planet's own strategic defence platforms are turned against the possessed, destroying an aircraft and several buses carrying them. One bus manages to get onto Mortonridge, a hilly peninsula, and the entire human population of nearly two million is possessed. SD platforms and the military manage to seal off the peninsula, containing the possessed in this one area. The leader of the possessed, Annette Ekelund, agrees to a cessation of hostilities until a more permanent solution to the crisis is found. However, the Kulu Kingdom is unwilling to look inactive whilst its citizens are in danger, and contingency plans are made. Hiltch visits Kulu itself and is shocked to learn that there was an outbreak of possession in Nova Kong, the capital, but it was put down hard by the authorities. King Alastair agrees to authorise an alliance with the Edenists, who will provide bitek soldiers to help retake Mortonridge. They know now that the possessed fear zero-tau and plan to use thousands of zero- tau pods to force the possessed to give up their bodies. The campaign will likely be bloody, but the Confederation badly needs a victory. Joshua Calvert and the crew of the Lady MacBeth return to Tranquillity with news of events on Lalonde. Kelly Tirrel becomes an overnight celebrity for her reports of the conflict on Lalonde, and the children rescued from the planet are well-treated in the habitat's children's home. Ione asks Joshua Calvert to take his ship and pursue Alkad Mzu and Udat wherever they have gone. Ione believes that the Alchemist may pose as great a threat as the possessed. Joshua reluctantly agrees. Before he departs, Father Horst Elwes relates to him a story about how he was able to 'exorcise' a possessing spirit on Lalonde and tells Joshua to have faith. On New California a few possessed manage to get loose on the planet, but they are disorganised and unable to make much headway. One of the possessed appears to be a raving lunatic, but as the days pass the possessing soul's presence in a normally-functioning brain restore his sanity and his memory. The possessing soul turns out to be Al Capone, a famed gangster from 20th century Chicago. Capone organises the possessed and they take over the planet in a matter of weeks. Capone realises they need to keep the planet's economy and starship-building capability going to defend themselves from any counter-attack, so many citizens are spared from possession (the act of which interferes with electrical systems nearby) as long as they contribute to the expansion of Capone's 'Organisation'. The interstellar superstar Jezebelle (a singer and 'mood-fantasy' artist) is on the planet at the time and she rapidly becomes Capone's lover, but also proves to be a valuable source of intelligence on the Confederation. The Organisation spreads to another planet and its ships begin causing problems for the Confederation Navy. First Admiral Samual Aleksandrovich learns that the Organisation's next conquest will be the planet Toi Hoi and develops a plan to intercept and destroy their fleet there. Quinn Dexter leaves Norfolk and travels to Earth, hoping to infiltrate the arcologies there. However, Earth's defences and security measures are far too strong for him to penetrate. He instead travels to a planet called Nyvan, one of the earliest colonies founded before the policy of ethnic-streaming colonies came into effect. As a result, the planet is locked in a permanent state of cold war. Dexter effectively takes over one of the orbital asteroids. During his conquest he discovers it is possible to shift his body into a 'ghost realm', where he finds more dead souls. They claim that when someone dies only some are trapped in a beyond, whilst others become locked in a ghost-like state. Although he has no use for the ghosts, Dexter realises he can use this new ability to break through Earth's security again. In the Valisk habitat, the possessed, aided by Dariat, become organised and swiftly take over much of the habitat. Rubra, the personality controlling the habitat, tries to reason with Dariat to little avail. Kiera, the leader of the possessed on Valisk (and the possessor of Marie Skibbow), travels to New California and is able to secure an alliance with the Organisation. Thanks to Dariat's knowledge of bitek systems, he is able to arrange for several dozen blackhawks to be possessed. The resulting 'hellhawks' become a valuable asset and Kiera is able to sell their skills to the Organisation. However, Dariat becomes gradually opposed to the possessed, due to their brutal tactics and penchant for destruction. He decides to side with Rubra, helps some of the non-possessed population to evacuate, and then merges his personality with Rubra's in the neural strata. The resulting blast of energy ends the threat of the possessed but also rips Valisk out of the material universe and into a strange realm of grey mists. Dariat is horrified to wake up and discover that he is now a ghost. At Jupiter, Syrinx recovers from her injuries. She visits Eden, the original habitat, where the personality of Wing-Tsit Chong, Edenism's founder, lives on in the habitat's neural strata. With his guidance, Syrinx is able to overcome both the trauma of her experience and also her prejudice against Adamists. Syrinx and Oenone begin flying again and are assigned to a Confederation Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Meredith Saldana, which is assigned to the upcoming Toi Hoi interception mission. Saldana's squadron travels to Tranquillity, where Ione Saldana agrees – reluctantly – to let them use the habitat as a staging ground for the attack. On Trafalgar, the Confederation Navy HQ asteroid orbiting Avon, a possessed prisoner demands a hearing to confirm her human rights and stop the Navy personnel running tests on her. However, she nearly escapes during the hearing and manages to have several other people possessed, one of whom has knowledge of the Toi Hoi operation. She re-kills this individual, and then surrenders to the staff. At New California the possessing soul from Trafalgar manages to get reincarnated and warns Capone of the Toi Hoi ambush. Capone prepares his own plan in response. In Tranquillity the Kiint researchers at the Ruin Ring project become intrigued by reports reaching them about a Tyrathca religion they previously did not know about (when one of the children from Lalonde tells a Kiint youth about it). They acquire the relevant data about the Sleeping God from Kelly Tirrel. Tranquillity observes this and Tirrel gives Ione a copy of the data. Ione is puzzled – the Tyrathca are a notably unimaginative species and have no need for supernatural deities – but her advisors suggest that the Sleeping God is actually a real entity who was able to aid the Tyrathca centuries ago, and may be able to aid humanity now against the threat of the possessed. Joshua Calvert's hunt for Mzu and the Alchemist takes him to several worlds and asteroid settlements. On Ayachuko asteroid, in the Dorados, he is shocked to discover that he has a half-brother, Liol, the result of a liaison between Joshua's father Marcus and a local woman nearly thirty years ago. With possessed loosed on Ayachucko, Joshua agrees to let Liol depart with them. Joshua is attacked by a possessed but his attempt to 'exorcise' him as per Elwes' instruction fails, apparently because the possessing spirit was a Sunni Muslim and has no fear of Joshua's crucifix. Joshua and his crew manage to escape. Mzu's trail leads them to Nyvan. Joshua's pursuit is hampered by agents from the Edenist Intelligence service (led by Samual) and the Kulu External Security Agency (led by Monica Foulkes) who have surprisingly joined forces in their own pursuit of Mzu. Possessed loosed on Nyvan have also learned of Mzu's weapon and are searching for her. The pursuit culminates in a showdown at an iron yard. Joshua and his companions survive thanks to the intervention of a man with strange abilities named Dick Keaton, and are able to extract Mzu safely, although they also have to pick up Monica and Samual. Dexter destroys an orbital asteroid with nuclear bombs, causing a rain of asteroid chunks to fall on and annihilate the planet's biosphere. Satisfied with the chaos he has caused, Dexter departs for Earth. He abandons his comrades, slips into the ghost realm to evade security, and reappears in the space elevator descending towards the planet. Safely aboard Joshua's ship Mzu explains how thirty years ago she and other Garrisan starships were on a mission to deploy the Alchemist when they were ambushed and left for dead by Omutan hired blackhawks (as portrayed in the first chapter of The Reality Dysfunction). They were left with two badly damaged ships, one with an active ZTT drive and the other without. With a difficult decision ahead, they decided to place 30 crewmembers in zero-tau and the Alchemist on the damaged Beezling, and send them to the nearest uninhabited star two and a half light-years away at sub-light speed (9% the speed of light due to the lack of a ZTT drive), what would be a 28-year journey. Mzu and others escaped via ZTT jump on the remaining ship with the intentions of rendezvousing with the Beezling upon its arrival in 28 years. Mzu finally reveals the location coordinates of the uninhabited star that the Beezling is now orbiting and Joshua and his crew race to the star with the intentions of intercepting and destroying the Alchemist. Upon their arrival they discover the Alchemist and the Beezling with most of its crew intact. During the rescue Joshua's ship is ambushed by two Organization hellhawks that pursued them from Nyvan. Finding himself greatly outmaneuvered, Joshua pulls off a daring stunt by deploying the Alchemist into a nearby gas giant causing it to go nova, destroying the two Organization ships. Joshua meanwhile uses his ship's anti- matter drive to safely accelerate away from the nova at forty-two gees to a distance where they can make a proper ZTT jump. With knowledge of the Confederation's Toi Hoi assault fleet grouping and refuelling at Tranquility, the Organisation fleet, aided by a large number of hellhawks, stages a massive assault on Tranquillity, surrounding the habitat and its few blackhawk mercenary and Confederation Navy defenders. They demand Tranquillity's immediate surrender. When Ione hesitates, they launch over 5,000 anti-matter weapons at the habitat. Later, when Lady Macbeth arrives at Mirchusko, they find a vast radioactive dead zone where Tranquillity used to be. However, there is insufficient debris or disintegrated matter in orbit to suggest the station was destroyed. Its fate is unknown. The story concludes in The Naked God. 

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The first ever appearance of a youthful Roy Race The story followed Roy Race, a striker for the fictional football team Melchester Rovers, based in a town of the same name in an unspecified part of England, where Roy lived with his family. In the first episode, a teenaged Roy and his best friend, Blackie Gray, signed for the Rovers after being spotted playing for a youth club team. Eight months later, Roy and Blackie made their first-team debuts against Elbury Wanderers in a game that ended in a 3–3 draw, with Roy scoring twice. He soon became a star, leading the team to either the Football League title or a cup almost every season. In January 1975 he was made player- manager, a position he retained for most of the next 20 years. Although the strip followed the Rovers through nearly 40 seasons, Roy did not age at the same rate and appeared to be at most in his late thirties by the time the weekly comic ended. This unrealistic longevity was never remarked upon by the weekly comic, although the monthly comic attempted to address the anomaly by explaining that more than one Roy Race had played for Melchester over the years. Roy won a number of trophies during his career with Rovers, including nine league titles, eight FA Cups, three League Cups, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup, and four Cup Winners' Cups, and he also made several appearances for England. He married club secretary Penny Laine at the end of the 1975–76 season, with whom he had three children: Roy Jr. (later known as Rocky), Melinda, and Diana. Penny left Roy in the early 1980s, in a high-profile storyline that was covered on national television news. The following year Roy was shot in his office by a mystery gunman, in an incident clearly mirroring the shooting of J. R. Ewing in the hit television series Dallas the previous year. Roy lay in a coma for several weeks. The culprit was eventually revealed to be Elton Blake, an actor who had been cast as Roy in a television series about the Rovers, but who blamed him for his dismissal. In early 1983 Roy swapped Melchester Rovers for ambitious London side Walford Rovers after a fallout with the Melchester directors, but his stint away was short-lived and he was back at his spiritual home by the end of the year. In July 1986 eight members of the Rovers team were killed during a club tour of the fictional Middle Eastern country of Basran, when terrorists accidentally crashed a bomb- laden car into the team bus. Roy escaped with a dislocated shoulder. Author Mick Collins has commented that "Even as youngsters, we knew that this certainly bordered on bad taste, and probably overstepped the mark." The cover of the 19 July 1986 issue of the comic showed the aftermath of the "massacre" of the Melchester team in the fictional country of Basran. This storyline's depiction of Middle Eastern terrorists caused controversy at the time of publication. The final incident of Roy's playing career came in the closing pages of the last weekly issue, in March 1993, when he lost control of his helicopter and crashed into a field. Thus the weekly strip ended its 39-year unbroken run on a downbeat and unresolved cliffhanger, as Roy was taken into hospital while fans, the media and his family awaited news on his condition. The mystery of whether or not Roy had survived his crash was unresolved until the first issue of the new Roy of the Rovers Monthly in September 1993, in which readers discovered that the accident had resulted in the amputation of his famous left foot, ending his playing career and resulting in his move to Italy as the manager of Serie A side AC Monza (a fictional top-level Italian club, rather than the real club of the same name). Reconciling the continuity of the monthly strip with the stories that preceded and followed it presented difficulties, forcing the story's writers to alter its history in a number of ways, a technique known as retroactive continuity. Significantly, the strip rewrote various parts of Melchester's history, and shortened Roy Sr.'s recorded playing career to a more realistic level. By the time the strip ended in March 1995 Melchester were in dire straits, on the verge of bankruptcy, and their long-term future far from certain. When the strip returned in Match of the Day magazine in May 1997, much of the monthly comic's new continuity was ignored, although the basic thread of the club having struggled against relegation and being severely in debt was continued. It was revealed in the first strip that in the intervening years, while Rovers had managed to survive the threat of bankruptcy, a bribery scandal had caused a mass exodus of players and eventual relegation to Division One. Rocky, meanwhile, was playing for fierce local rivals Melborough, after a bitter falling-out with his father over a car accident in Italy in which his mother, Penny, had been killed. Roy, who had quit football as a result, was blamed by some (including his son) for the accident, even though he had no memory of it, and the precise circumstances surrounding the event were never resolved. Roy was persuaded to rejoin Melchester as manager and part-owner, backed by the unscrupulous Vinter brothers, and he arrived just in time to save the club from relegation. The following season, Roy and Rocky resolved their differences. Rocky rejoined Melchester, and the club was promoted back into the Premier League at the end of the year. When the magazine closed in 2001, Rovers were attempting to achieve a league placing that would secure them UEFA Champions League football, giving them financial security. Although this storyline was never resolved, there was nevertheless a certain sense of closure as, shortly beforehand, Roy Sr. had wrested full control of the club from the Vinters, thus completing his 44-year progression from player to owner. 

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The game takes place in the year 2172; mankind has colonized Earth's, Mars', and Jupiter's moons. A military force known as BAHRAM sends its primary offensive unit to attack Antilia, a Jupiter colony, in an attempt to secure two advanced machines known as Orbital Frames. One of the few colony survivors, a young boy named Leo Stenbuck, witnesses a falling Laborious Extra-Orbital Vehicle (LEV) killing his friends. He flees to a hangar, where he finds an Orbital Frame by the name of Jehuty. Using this suit and its built-in intelligence, A.D.A, he fends off the BAHRAM forces led by officer Viola who seek to claim Jehuty on the orders of their leader, Nohman. Leo is then contacted by Elena Weinberg, the commander of the civilian transport vessel Atlantis; it belongs to Earth's military forces, the United Nations Space Force. As Jehuty's original pilot died during the attack, Elena requests Leo's assistance to deliver Jehuty back to them so they can take it to Mars. Leo, however, refuses to kill enemies. Battling through Antilia, Leo rescues civilians, including Celvice Klein, a friend; he defends the colony from destruction, defeating the BAHRAM forces and their commanders one by one. Before reaching Atlantis, Leo encounters Viola, who seeks a rematch; Leo defeats her, but is unwilling to kill her. Later, Atlantis pilot Rock Thunderheart meets Leo in person, revealing that BAHRAM forces are still determined to obtain Jehuty and are threatening to destroy the colony. Thunderheart requests Leo's help to pilot Jehuty, as he has realized Leo's skills are superior. Viola then appears, shooting Celvice this time, forcing Leo to fight again. Celvice is taken to the Thunderheart to be treated while Leo goes to save the colony. Leo goes to the docks and Viola battles him once more. However, Viola is defeated again and killed when a leftover bomb blows her out of the colony and into Jupiter's atmosphere. Nohman himself then appears in Jehuty's superior twin Frame Anubis, forcing Jehuty's escape. As Jehuty is docking, A.D.A. reveals to Leo its programming: when taken to the fortress Aumaan on Mars, the mechas is to eject its pilot and self-destruct Jehuty, destroying the frame and the fortress. Leo leaves Jehuty's cockpit and meets up with the crew of the Atlantis and Celvice, who survived her gunshot wound. 

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The novel opens aboard Hong Kong- based TransPacific Airlines Flight 545, a Norton Aircraft-manufactured N-22 wide-body aircraft, flying from Hong Kong to Denver. An incident occurs on board the plane about 1/2 hour west of the California coast, and the pilot requests an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport, stating that the plane encountered "severe turbulence" in flight. The pilot gives air traffic control conflicting information regarding the types and severity of injuries, but does inform them that crew members are hurt and "two passengers are dead." The incident seems inexplicable. The N-22 is a plane with an excellent safety record, and the captain, John Zhen Chang, is highly skilled, making the possibility of human error unlikely. Passengers and flight crew give almost identical accounts of the circumstances of the disaster, and the most likely explanation turns out to be a technical problem that was thought to have been fixed years before. As Vice President of Quality Assurance at Norton Aircraft, it is Casey Singleton's job to try to protect the design's (and Norton's) reputation, especially since it jeopardizes a crucial aircraft purchase deal with China. However, not only does she have to deal with a ratings-hungry media intent on assigning blame for the incident, she must also deal with Bob Richman, an arrogant and suspicious Norton family member assigned to assist her. All the while, she has to navigate the murky politics of the factory union and try and soothe the tempers of disgruntled Norton workers who fear the fallout from the incident will bankrupt the company and cost them their jobs. When the company's Incident Review Team begins to investigate, they discover that the plane's Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had malfunctioned prior to the accident, and thus the data on any system errors or pilot control inputs is corrupted. Because Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs) are not allowed to store longer recordings due to Federal Aviation Administration restrictions, the CVR data from the time of the accident has also been lost. Without FDR and CVR data, the team is forced to go over every part and circuit of the aircraft to look for what might have caused the accident. At first, all signs point to a malfunction of the plane's slats having caused them to deploy mid-flight. Though other N-22s had exhibited similar slats errors in the past, they were thought to have been caused by pilots inadvertently snagging the control lever. Norton assumed that the slats problem had been fixed by its subsequent Airworthiness Directives (ADs) locking the lever into place and covering it when not in use. The team is anxious to prove that this was not the cause of the accident, because a slats malfunction despite both ADs' being fully implemented points to an underlying error that could make the N-22 unsafe to fly. Their search eventually uncovers a counterfeit part likely installed by a careless maintenance worker, but this would not have been enough to cause the accident on its own. Upon reviewing the plane's raw fault data printouts, Casey realizes that the plane was equipped with a Quick Access Recorder (QAR). A QAR provides even more detailed flight data than the FDR, but the team did not know the plane was equipped with one because QARs are optional. Casey locates the QAR on board the N-22, and she is able to piece together the events that caused the accident from the data it recorded. Contrary to public belief, the accident was caused not by a design flaw at Norton, but by an accident cascade stemming from poor maintenance practices at Transpacific Airlines and from pilot error. First, the counterfeit part caused a sensor in the plane's wing to malfunction, which produced an error message in the cockpit. This error message could be cleared by deploying and retracting the plane's slats. Although deploying the slats would change the shape of the wing, the N-22's autopilot was capable of making the necessary adjustments without incident. However, the pilot at the time of the accident manually overcorrected, overriding the autopilot and sending the plane into a series of oscillations that resulted in fatalities. Originally, this had been ruled out as a possible cause because the plane's captain, who was reportedly at the controls during the accident, was a highly capable pilot with ample experience flying the N-22. However, Casey noticed that Chang's son Thomas was listed as a member of the flight crew. Although Thomas was a pilot, he was not type certified to fly the N-22 and was thus unfamiliar with the particulars of its systems. A videotape taken by a passenger reveals that Chang had allowed Thomas to take the plane's controls at the time of the accident. A pilot more familiar with the aircraft would have known to allow the autopilot to correct for slats deployment, but Thomas's inexperience caused him to panic and assume manual control. Transpacific attempted to cover this up by changing his position on the crew list from first officer (a pilot with authorization to fly the plane) to flight engineer (a mechanic in charge of the aircraft systems). Chang – who had been knocked unconscious during the accident and later died in the hospital – was disguised as a first officer so that no one would realize he was outside the cockpit when the accident occurred. Despite her initial excitement at exonerating Norton, Casey realizes that she cannot publicize this information. Publicly pinning the blame for the accident on a TransPacific employee would sour relations with the airline, ruining future sales just as surely as any N-22 safety issues would. As Casey investigates further, she discovers a deeper plan at work. Richman had secretly plotted with another Norton executive, John Marder, to oust CEO Harold Edgarton from his position and seize control of the company. They intended to wait for an incident that would put the N-22's reputation in question and torpedo the company's deal with China. Then, once in control of Norton, they would finalize an even larger deal with a South Korean airline. The deal, already prepared, would initially be worth several billion dollars, leading to huge profits for current stockholders, but would eventually destroy the company by moving production of the wing overseas, giving critical know-how away to competitors. Casey manages to thwart the plan by revealing the truth to TV producer Jennifer Malone, who had promised to run a devastating report on the N-22's safety issues. Once Malone is shown the evidence, she cannot claim ignorance of the truth and air her report anyway without opening herself up to a defamation lawsuit. She is also unable to report the true story, since her boss doesn't think it's exciting enough to hold people's attention. With the N-22's reputation cleared, the China deal goes off without a hitch, and the company's future is secured. Afterwards, Edgarton promotes Casey to head the company's Media Relations Division. Richman is later arrested in Singapore for narcotics possession, while Marder leaves the company, supposedly on good terms. 

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The novel opens with a distressed letter from Lady Howard to her longtime acquaintance, the Reverend Arthur Villars, in which she reports that Mme (Madame) Duval, the grandmother of Villars' ward, Evelina Anville, intends to visit England to renew her acquaintance with her granddaughter Evelina. Eighteen years earlier, Mme Duval had broken off her relationship with her daughter Caroline, Evelina's mother, but never knew of the birth or even existence of Evelina until Evelina was in her late teens. Upon this discovery, Mme Duval desires to reclaim Evelina and whisk her away to France as her closest blood relation. Reverend Villars fears Mme Duval's influence could lead Evelina to a fate similar to that of her mother Caroline, who secretly wedded Sir John Belmont, a libertine, who afterwards denied the marriage. To keep Evelina from Mme Duval, the Reverend lets her visit Howard Grove, Lady Howard's home, on an extended holiday. While she is there, the family learns that Lady Howard's son-in-law, naval officer Captain Mirvan, is returning to England after a seven-year absence. Desperate to join the Mirvans on their trip to London, Evelina entreats her guardian to let her attend with them, promising that the visit will last only a few weeks. Villars reluctantly consents. In London, Evelina's beauty and ambiguous social status attract unwanted attention and unkind speculation. Ignorant of the conventions and behaviours of 18th-century London society, she makes a series of humiliating (but humorous) faux pas that further expose her to social ridicule. She soon earns the attentions of two gentlemen: Lord Orville, a handsome and extremely eligible peer and pattern- card of modest, becoming behaviour; and Sir Clement Willoughby, a baronet with duplicitous intentions. Evelina's untimely reunion in London with her grandmother and the Branghtons, her long-unknown extended family, along with the embarrassment their boorish, social-climbing antics cause, soon convince Evelina that Lord Orville is completely out of reach. The Mirvans finally return to the country, taking Evelina and Mme Duval with them. Spurred by Evelina's greedy cousins, Mme Duval concocts a plan to sue Sir John Belmont, Evelina's father, and force him to recognize his daughter's claim to his estate in court. Reverend Villars is displeased, and they decide against a lawsuit, but Lady Howard still writes to Sir John Belmont, who responds unfavourably. He does not believe it possible for Evelina to be his daughter, as he already has a young lady who is his supposed daughter (who, unbeknownst to him is actually illegitimate), and therefore assumes Mme Duval to be trying to dupe him for his money. Mme Duval is furious and threatens to rush Evelina back to Paris to pursue the lawsuit. A second compromise sees Evelina return to London with her grandmother, where she is forced to spend time with her ill-bred Branghton cousins and their rowdy friends, but she is distracted by Mr. Macartney, a melancholy and direly-poor Scottish poet. Finding him with a pair of pistols, she supposed him to be considering suicide and bids him to look to his salvation; later he informs her that he has been contemplating not only self-destruction but more-so highway robbery. He is in dreadful financial straits, is engaged in tracing his own obscure parentage, as well as recovering from his mother's sudden death and the discovery that his beloved is actually his sister. Evelina charitably gives him her purse. Otherwise, her time with the Branghtons is uniformly mortifying: during her visit to the Marylebone pleasure garden, for instance, she is attacked by a drunken sailor and accosted by several rowdy men before being rescued by prostitutes—and in this humiliating company, she meets Lord Orville again. Sure that he can never respect her now, she is stunned when he seeks her out in London's unfashionable section and seems interested in renewing their acquaintance. When an insulting and brash letter supposedly from Lord Orville devastates her and makes her believe she misperceived him, she returns home to Berry Hill and falls ill. Slowly recuperating from her illness, Evelina agrees to accompany her neighbour, a sarcastically tempered widow named Mrs. Selwyn, to the resort town of Clifton Heights, where she unwillingly attracts the attention of womanizer Lord Merton, on the eve of his marriage to Lord Orville's sister, Lady Louisa Larpent. Aware of Lord Orville's arrival, Evelina tries to distance herself from him because of his impertinent letter, but his gentle manners work their spell until she is torn between attraction to him and belief in his past duplicity. The unexpected appearance of Mr. Macartney reveals an unexpected streak of jealousy in the seemingly imperturbable Lord Orville. Convinced that Macartney is a rival for Evelina's affections, Lord Orville withdraws. However, Macartney has intended only to repay his financial debt to Evelina. Lord Orville's genuine affection for Evelina and her assurances that she and Macartney are not involved finally win out over Orville's jealousy, and he secures a meeting between Evelina and Macartney. It appears that all doubts have been resolved between Lord Orville and Evelina, especially when Mrs. Selwyn informs her that she overheard Lord Orville arguing with Sir Clement Willoughby about the latter's inappropriate attentions to Evelina. Lord Orville proposes, much to Evelina's delight. However, Evelina is distraught at the continuing gulf between herself and her father and the mystery surrounding his false daughter. Finally, Mrs. Selwyn is able to secure a surprise meeting with Sir John. When he sees Evelina, he is horrified and guilt-stricken because she clearly resembles her mother, Caroline. This means that the other Miss Belmont (the false daughter) is recognized as a fraud. Evelina is able to ease his guilt with her repeated gentle pardons and the delivery of a letter written by her mother on her deathbed in which she forgives Sir John for his behaviour if he will remove her ignominy (by acknowledging their marriage) and acknowledge Evelina as his legitimate daughter. Mrs Clifton, Berry Hill's longtime housekeeper, is able to reveal the second Miss Belmont's parentage. She identifies Polly Green, Evelina's former wet nurse, mother of a girl 6 weeks older than Evelina, as the perpetrator of the fraud. Polly has been passing her own daughter off as that of Sir John and Caroline for the past 18 years, hoping to secure a better future for her. Ultimately, Lord Orville suggests that the unfortunate girl be named co-heiress with Evelina; kindhearted Evelina is delighted. Finally, Sir Clement Willoughby writes to Evelina, confessing that he had written the insulting letter (she had already suspected this), hoping to separate Evelina and Lord Orville. In Paris, Mr. Macartney is reunited with the false Miss Belmont, his former beloved: separated by Sir John, at first because Macartney was too poor and lowly to marry his purported daughter, and then because his affair with Macartney's mother would have made the sweethearts brother and sister, they are now able to marry because Miss "Belmont"'s true parentage has been revealed and the two are not related at all. They are married in a joint ceremony alongside Evelina and Lord Orville, who decide to visit Reverend Villars at Berry Hill for their honeymoon trip.Frances Burney, Evelina, or, the history of a young lady's entrance into the world: authoritative text, contexts and contemporary reactions, criticism, edited by Stewart J. Cooke, New York: Norton, 1998, . 

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Carol Ledoux, a beautiful Belgian manicurist, lives in London with her older sister Helen. Carol is remarkably detached and struggles in her daily interactions. A suitor, Colin, is enamored with her and makes fervent attempts to court her, but Carol seems uninterested. When home, she enjoys looking out the window to see a group of nuns outside of their church playing soccer. Carol is troubled by her sister's relationship with a man named Michael, whom she seems to dislike. She is bothered by his habit of leaving his razor and toothbrush in her glass in the bathroom. At night she is unable to sleep, haunted by the sounds of her sister's lovemaking. They are also constantly pestered by their landlord to pay their rent. When Carol walks home from work, she is bothered by a crack in the sidewalk. Colin happens upon her and she struggles to respond when he talks to her. He drives her home and tries to kiss her several times but she pulls away, running upstairs and vigorously brushing her teeth before weeping. That night Helen questions Carol for throwing away Michael's belongings. At the manicure salon, Carol becomes increasingly distant, barely talking to her coworkers and customers, so much so that her boss decides to send her home for the day. After Helen and Michael leave for Italy on holiday, Carol is left alone in the apartment. At home, Carol takes a rabbit out of the fridge for dinner. Instead of cooking it, she is distracted by a number of Michael's possessions left around the apartment, including a used article of his clothing, which she smells and makes her vomit. After trying on one of her sister's dresses, she sees a dark figure in the mirror. That night, she hears footsteps outside her bedroom. Her isolation begins to take its toll on her. One morning she runs a bath and walks away, causing it to overflow. As she turns on a light, the wall cracks open. She locks herself in her room and again hears footsteps. This time, she hallucinates that a man breaks into her room and rapes her. She is awoken in the hallway by a phone call from Colin but she hangs up. Carol misses three days of work. As she is giving a manicure, she stabs her client in the finger and is sent home early. The uncooked rabbit's head is in her purse. At the apartment, she looks at an old family photo and the wall behind the photograph shatters like a mirror. After continuously being ignored, Colin shows up at her apartment. She refuses to open the door so he breaks in. He declares his love for her, and she responds by clubbing him to death with a candlestick. She cleans the blood, barricades the door, and places Colin's corpse in the bathtub. In bed, she goes through the same rape hallucination. She wakes up the next morning, naked on the floor. Later, she walks down the dark hallway of her apartment where hands appear out of the walls and grab her. Later, the angry wife of Michael calls looking for Helen, causing Carol to cut the wire of the telephone. The landlord comes looking for the rent. After he is unable to get in due to the barricade, he breaks into the apartment and sees Carol. She pays him the rent, but he is disgusted by the state of the apartment. He sees the uncooked rabbit, still sitting out, rotting. He propositions her, offering to forget about the rent, and makes an aggressive pass at her but she hacks him to death with Michael's straight razor. She then sinks deeper into hallucination. When Helen and Michael arrive home, Helen is dismayed at the state of the place. Michael happens on Helen hyperventilating and finds Colin's dead body in the bath. Helen finds Carol under her bed in a catatonic state. Her neighbors flood in as Michael picks her up and carries her out, smiling. The final scene pans over items in the apartment, settling on a family photo showing Carol as a child, blankly staring down an older man we can assume is her father, while others in the photo smile for the camera. 

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Dead End City is a place controlled with a firm grip by the "Dead End" gang, an endless parade of violent criminals. Their only obstacle is the opposing hero gang, called The Cobras. The Cobras number five members: Blood (former prizefighter, with a passing resemblance to Wesley Snipes), Hawk (former professional wrestler, with a passing resemblance to Hulk Hogan), Boomer (a martial artist, possibly based on Jean-Claude Van Damme), Sledge (a military ex-convict with a passing resemblance to Mr. T) and Kate, the damsel in distress, described as Hawk's protegee and wearing a blue shirt similar to his. One day, Kate is kidnapped by the Dead End Gang under the leadership of Faust, who is looking for the leadership of all street gangs in an attempt to take full control of the city. The four men go to enemy territory to save Kate, fighting through the waves of enemies sent against them. 

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The outlaw Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) and his gang of outlaws ride into a Texas village, killing everyone except a young boy, John Reid (Klinton Spilsbury). A tribe of Comanche Indians takes John to their reservation, where one of the tribe's young braves, Tonto (Michael Horse) teaches him to shoot a bow and arrow with precision and how to track. The two eventually become blood brothers, and John later leaves the reservation. He goes on to become a Texas Ranger. Cavendish and his gang ambush a party of Rangers (Reid among them), killing all except Reid, who is rescued by Tonto. When John recovers from his wounds, he teaches himself to shoot with silver bullets, and he captures and tames a white horse, which he names Silver. He dedicates his life to fighting the crime that Cavendish represents. To this end, John becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue President Grant (Jason Robards) when Cavendish takes him hostage. 

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Stranded by a thick London fog late one evening and desperate for a place to stay, Leslie Steele (Merle Oberon), a young, pretty but madcap socialite, quietly barges her way into a hotel suite occupied by Everard Logan (Laurence Olivier), a handsome but distant lawyer who specializes in divorce cases. He promptly registers one objection after another, but all of his efforts to evict Leslie are to no avail. He thus agrees to a compromise, allowing her use of the bedroom, while he takes another room in the same suite. However, at breakfast the next morning, Logan changes his tune regarding Ms. Steele and insists they must meet again. But while he's out of the room, dressing, she mysteriously bolts for home, which she shares with her grandfather/judge (Morton Selten). The zany, impulsive Ms. Steele tells her grandfather she intends to marry Lawyer Logan. To her surprise, she learns that Logan will be presenting a case in her grandfather's court that day, so she attends the proceeding to observe Logan in action -- and to her further surprise, sees him mercilessly rip to shreds a woman accused of adultery. As Leslie and Everard spend the rest of the film struggling to adjust to each other's whims and differences, a subplot involving Lord Mere (Ralph Richardson), one of Logan's clients, is interwoven into the complicated plot-line. A confusion of identities ensues, as at one point, Logan is led to mistakenly believe that Leslie is actually Lord Mere's wife (played by Binnie Barnes). But after a weekend fox hunt at the lord's manor, all conflicts are satisfactorily explained away, and the two lovers are reconciled. In fact, by the story's end, Leslie has successfully transformed Everard from the inhumane, hostile, woman-browbeating counselor she witnessed earlier in the film into a more empathetic, understanding, sensitive courtroom-interrogator of "the gentle sex". 

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Set during the Second World War, the film recounts the adventures of William Potts (Will Hay) after it is discovered that he is an exact double of a German spy who the British have just captured. Potts is flown into Nazi Germany to impersonate the spy and instructed to seek out and bring back details of a new German secret weapon. On arrival, however, Potts is placed in charge of a group of apparently rabidly-fascist young students who are being trained to work as spies in Britain. Potts attempts to undermine this by convincing the youngsters that the proper British way of saluting a great leader is to apply the V-sign, which they therefore do repeatedly and enthusiastically in the direction of a portrait of the Führer. At a function where he hopes to gather information about the weapon (a gasfire bomb), Potts succeeds only in getting blind drunk and admitting that he is a British agent. Luckily, some members of his class of Nazi youths turn out to be sympathetic Austrians and they help him obtain the secret he seeks. Potts and his new friends eventually commandeer a plane and fly back to Britain, crashing in a tree outside the War Office in London. 

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Leslie Howard in The First of the Few Poster for the U.S. release version, Spitfire A newsreel sets the scene for summer 1940, showing Nazi advances in Europe with Britain facing invasion and aerial attacks on the island increasing. On 15 September 1940, during the Battle of Britain, RAF Squadron Leader Geoffrey Crisp (David Niven), the station commander of a Spitfire squadron, recounts the story of how his friend, R. J. Mitchell (Leslie Howard) designed the Spitfire fighter. His pilots listen as Crisp begins with the 1922 Schneider Trophy competition, where Mitchell began his most important work, designing high speed aircraft. While watching seagulls with his binoculars, he envisages a new shape for aircraft in the future. Crisp, an ex-First World War pilot seeking work, captivates Mitchell with his enthusiasm and the designer promises to hire him as test pilot should his design ever go into production. Facing opposition from official sources, Mitchell succeeds in creating a series of highly successful seaplane racers, eventually winning the Schneider Trophy outright for Great Britain. After a visit to Germany in the 1930s and a chance meeting with leading German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt and after hearing talk of German Re- Armament Mitchell resolves to build the fastest and deadliest fighter aircraft. Convincing Henry Royce of Rolls-Royce that a new engine, eventually to become the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin, is needed, Mitchell gets the powerplant he requires. Faced by the devastating news that he has only one year to live and battling against failing health, Mitchell dies just after hearing word that the government has ordered the Spitfire into production. Crisp ends his account when the squadron is scrambled to counter a German attack: the fight sees the Germans beaten, with the Luftwaffe losing more planes than the British. In the end, Crisp is happy over the victory and looks to the heavens to Mitchell, voicing a thanks to Mitchell for creating the Spitfire. 

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This comedy sees Will Hay playing a seedy lawyer, who finds himself marked for assassination by a forger whom he previously defended unsuccessfully. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved. The film climaxes with a sequence where Hay hangs from the hands of the clock face of Big Ben in an attempt to prevent a time bomb being detonated. 

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Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'. K is an elementary school teacher, 25 years old, and in love with Sumire, though she does not quite share his feelings. At a wedding, Sumire meets an ethnic Korean woman, Miu, who is 17 years her senior. The two strike up a conversation, and Sumire finds herself attracted to the older woman. This is the first time she has ever been sexually drawn to anybody. Miu soon asks Sumire to come work for her. This meeting and the ensuing relationship between the women leads to Sumire changing: she starts wearing nicer clothes, gets a better apartment, and quits smoking; however, she also develops a writer's block. K suddenly begins to receive letters from Europe written by Sumire. With them, he is able to track Sumire's and Miu's business travels across the continent. In her last letter, Sumire mentions that instead of coming home as originally planned, she and Miu are to spend some extra time on a Greek island vacationing. After a short while, K begins to call Sumire's house wondering when she will return. The only answer he gets, however, is from her answering machine. He soon gets a surprising call from Miu, who asks him to fly to Greece and mentions that something has happened to Sumire. Miu doesn't explain much, but it's clear the matter is urgent. The connection is shabby, and their phone connection is soon lost. K's new school year is starting the week after Miu's call, but finding Sumire's well-being more important, he leaves for Greece the next day. He meets Miu for the first time, and she tells him that Sumire has vanished without a trace. She tells him about the string of events that led to the point of Sumire's disappearance, in which Miu was unable to reciprocate physically when Sumire initiated a sexual encounter. Miu is very pleased to have K around, but worries that Sumire may have committed suicide; K reassures her that Sumire isn't that sort of person. Miu leaves the island for Athens in order to get help from the Japanese embassy and to call Sumire's parents. K spends a day on the island thinking about Sumire and her fate, coming to the a realization that there might be some clue in Sumire's writing that Miu mentioned. He finds Sumire's computer and a floppy disk that contains two documents, named simply "Document 1" and "Document 2". One contains Sumire's writing about a dream of hers in which she tries and fails to reach a version of her mother, who died when Sumire was young. The other is a story that Miu told her about an event that transformed her 14 years ago. She was trapped in a Ferris wheel overnight and, using her binoculars to see inside her nearby apartment, witnessed another version of herself having a disturbing sexual encounter with a man. The event caused her hair to turn white and divested her of sexual urges. Miu says that she feels that she was split in two on that night, and has lost that other part of herself forever. Trying hard to connect the dots, K concludes that both the stories suggest the existence of multiple worlds, and Sumire has left this world and entered a parallel one, perhaps to be with the other version of Miu. He then has a mystical experience during the night. Miu returns after a couple of days. K feels his time there is up, even though he feels a connection to Miu. Going back to Japan, he returns to his everyday life. In Sumire's absence, however, he feels he has lost the only precious thing in his life. He receives another distressed call, this time from his girlfriend who is also a married mother of one of his students. She tells him that her son – a boy nicknamed "Carrot" – has been caught stealing in a supermarket, and she needs his help in order to convince the security guard to let him go without contacting the police. The security guard is unhappy with both Carrot's lack of regret for his crime and K's outward appearance and manner, which he perceives to be one of an easy lifestyle. After a tedious conversation wherein the guard chastises K for his attitude toward him, he lets Carrot go. K sends the mother home and takes Carrot to a coffee shop. Carrot doesn't say anything the whole time. Even so, feeling a sort of connection to him, K tells him the story about Sumire. After dropping Carrot at his mother's house, K tells her that he cannot see her anymore. He continues with his solitary life. Despite their promises to the contrary, he never sees Miu again except for one chance encounter: Miu drives past him in her Jaguar but doesn't seem to acknowledge he is there. She has stopped dying her hair, and it is now pure white. K senses she is now an "empty shell," lacking what both Sumire and K were once drawn to about her. As with other Murakami works, Sputnik Sweetheart lacks a clear, concise ending. Without warning, K receives a phone call from Sumire, who tells him that she is in the same phone booth near her apartment that she had always called him from. She seems to finally be able to return K's affection toward her, and asks him to come get her from the phone booth. 

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The story begins with an exchange of letters and news clippings between Alan, a scientist working on parasite eradication in Colombia, and his wife Anne at home in the U.S., concerning an epidemic of organized murder of women by men. Some scientists suspect a biological cause for this sexually selective insanity (selected observations of lab animals indicate that the normal male sexual urges are spiraling out of control, resulting in death), but the murderers feel it is a natural instinct and have constructed elaborate misogynistic rationalizations for it. For example, a new religious movement is spreading along with the murders: the Sons of Adam, who believe that women are evil, that the garden was a paradise before women were introduced, and that God is telling them to get rid of all of the women. When the religion initially arises, prior to the organized murders, little is done to stop the ideology's spread, nor are their actions of evicting women from the areas the men control prevented. Alan realizes that the disease causes male sexual impulses to instead become violent impulses. Alan, a sensitive, kindly man, realizes that he himself is succumbing and tries to resist the impulses, as well as isolate himself from women. While this occurs, his wife and teenaged daughter have a number of mother-daughter conflicts: the daughter, faithful to her father, refuses to believe her mother's warnings about him. She sneaks off to visit her father, and he murders her, killing himself after the horrific realization of his action. Anne flees north, to Canada, since the disease began in the tropical zones and spread outward. After most of the world's women are dead, adult men start murdering boys. In the end, Anne, pursued by an entire society bent on femicide, discovers the source and motivation behind the plague: an alien species is intentionally causing the human race to destroy itself so that the aliens can have Earth for themselves. 

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The story portrays a crew of three male astronauts launched in the near future on a circumsolar mission in the spaceship Sunbird. A large solar flare damages their craft and leaves them drifting and lost in space. They make repeated attempts to contact NASA in Houston, to no avail. Soon, however, they begin to pick up strange radio communications. They are puzzled that almost all of the voices are female, usually with a strong Australian accent. They overhear conversations about personal matters (including the birth of a cow) as well as unknown slang terms. Various theories are discussed by the perplexed astronauts: hallucinations? A hoax? A hostile power trying to trick them? They record and play back the conversations over and over, trying to figure out what is going on. Soon, they realize that these unknown people are aware of them and are offering to help. At first, the Sunbird's commander refuses to communicate with them, suspicious of their motives. As they continue to plead with the astronauts to accept their rescue offer, the men are chilled to hear their mission referred to in historical terms. They come to realize that they were not only thrown off-course in space, but in time as well, and that their flight was lost centuries ago. They are given bare details of the current Earth: an undefined cataclysm has reduced the human population to a few million. Eventually, the Sunbird agrees to rendezvous with the spaceship Gloria to allow the astronauts to spacewalk to safety. The Gloria is an enigma to them. Besides having an almost all-female crew, the ship is haphazard and cluttered with plants and animals on board. The technology used on the ship does not appear to them to be as advanced as they would have thought the world to be after such a long passage of time, and they think it odd that some of the ship's functions are powered by stationary bikes. Their culture shock is compounded by the cryptic and incomplete answers they are given concerning the Earth. Little by little, the three gather clues from both observations and slips of the tongue. While crew members often refer to their "sisters," there is no mention of husbands, boyfriends, or families. There are twins on board (both named Judy), yet one seems older than the other. The one male, a teen named Andy, seems strangely feminine. Technology, and science and culture in general, seems to be relatively unadvanced considering the centuries that passed. Eventually, they learn the truth. A plague wiped out most human life, including all males. Only about 11,000 women survived, mostly concentrated in Australasia and a few other areas. Until recently, they reproduced only by cloning, so most women are clones of the original 11,000 genotypes. Babies are raised communally in crèches, and all members of each genotype are encouraged to add their story to a book that is passed on for the inspiration and education of future "sisters." Certain genotypes are given early androgen treatments (hence, Andy, who the astronauts thought was male) to increase bulk and strength for physical tasks. The resulting communal male-free society has settled into a peaceful pattern -- without major conflict and seemingly happy. The Sunbird's crew react to these revelations in different ways. The commander considers this to be a great tragedy, and believes he was chosen by God to subjugate the women to their intended roles and lead them back to the true path with men as leaders of society and family. Another eagerly anticipates the prospect of millions of women who have not known a man's touch, believing that the women are all sexually unfulfilled without a man, and he engages in violent sexual fantasies of domination. The third crew member -- the narrator -- differs from the other two in that he is an intellectual man without much physical development -- the other two men look down upon him for his nerdy qualities, and he thinks back to all of the abuse and bullying he has been the victim of over the years by men like them. He realizes that their feelings of superiority and importance are blinding them to what is really going on: he and his crewmates have been given a mind-altering drug -- it disinhibits them and causes them to show their "true selves" and voice their thoughts. He realizes that the traits they have exhibited of violence and domination are unacceptable in the new world of women, and they are all going to be killed, even himself. He tries to explain to them that though he expressed sexual thoughts in aggressive, violent words, he would never act on such thoughts. The women explain that they do not even have such thoughts. They are content to live in a world of women, and they don't want for leadership or sexual fulfillment without men. Their study of these three astronauts has shown that allowing men on Earth will pose unacceptable risks, so they are now merely studying the men and obtaining useful information and (in the case of the over-amorous astronaut) sperm samples, presumably to introduce fresh genetic material and create new genotypes. 

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Moggadeet is a spider-like creature who has decided that, since he is intelligent, he will resist the instincts which lead his species through an exceptionally violent life-cycle which they call "the Plan" — including a drop in intelligence during winter. As the years go by, Moggadeet gradually realizes that the winters are becoming longer and longer, and it is more and more difficult for him to resist becoming an unintelligent animal. In summer, he devises a plan to break out of the cycle: he captures and stockpiles prey for himself and his mate Lilliloo to eat during the winter, while holed up in a relatively warmer zone, in an attempt to keep his intelligence. However, after Lilliloo grows bigger than Moggadeet, she eats him. This too turns out to be part of the Plan, which Moggadeet was unable to escape. 

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Michael Moore (Jerry Trimble), a Vietnam vet, pulls off a bank heist with his gang, which includes the bank's manager. To ensure the loyalty of everyone involved, a set of keys is made to the hiding place for the loot so it can only be opened if all the members are present. These sets of keys were encrusted in a fake pizza mold that was later sliced and given to the gang. The bank manager gets cold feet and tries to back out, but Michael and his henchman arrive to kill him and his wife in their home. The bank manager's daughter Annie (Laura Hamilton) gets hold of the key and runs for help to David Moore (Ed Neil), one of her father's old friends and also a Vietnam vet as well as Michael's brother. David does some investigation, alongside Michael's two sons, Charlie (Jonathan Ke Quan) and Tony (Eddie Saavedra), to find out who murdered the girl's parents. During his investigation, a disguised Michael cripples David. Charlie and Tony, having seen David fight, are impressed with his skills and asks him to train them. At first, David refuses. However, when the brothers are able to prove their bravery when they kneel on bricks overnight. David begins training the brothers. When the brothers' investigation leads them to one of Michael's gang members, Tank (Wendell C. Whitaker), a confrontation leads to Tank having a change of heart for the sake of his mother. Tank decides to help the brothers gain intel but Michael eventually finds out and kills Tank. Meanwhile, Tony and Charlie use their new skills first on gang member Alan (Allen Tackett) and eventually, the hulking Thunder (Bolo Yeung). When David and Charlie eventually learn Michael is the gang leader and the one who killed the bank manager, Michael confronts the two. However, trouble brews up when Michael reveals why he adopted his son Charlie. During their time in Vietnam, David caught Michael killing Charlie's birth mother and had convinced him to adopt the orphaned baby. Shocked, Charlie is at first upset but then attempts to reason with Michael. However, Michael's arrogance and ultimatum leads to a showdown between father and son. When Michael is arrested, Tony arrives and not knowing the truth, puts the blame on Charlie. Tony vows to settle the score with Charlie at the national taekwondo tournament. Both Charlie and Tony eventually make the finals and Charlie at first refuses to fight Tony. After getting berated by the referee, Charlie finally fights back until he lets Tony knock him out. Tony wins but is even more in regret when he sees an unconscious Charlie. Tony attempts to help wake Charlie up and when he does, the brothers finally make amends with Tony the winner of the tournament. 

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